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masterlist
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Maybe season 3 of the umbrella academy will motivate me to finish the illusion series😬😬
The Way I Loved You
Sequel to Don’t You
Pairing: Sebastian Stan x reader
Word count: 5k
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“Yeah, I mean Jess is pretty-”
“Sensible.”
“-incredible,” Sebastian finished, barely throwing Mackie a glare at his interruption.
Chris nodded slightly. “I gotta say, I’m pretty jealous. She seems like a great person. I’d love to date someone like her. What’s she up to tonight?”
“Look out, Sebastian. Evans is going to steal your girl.” Sebastian shook his head fondly as Chris and Anthony bickered gently.
“I just thought that Wednesday was date night. That’s all.” Chris raised his hands in surrender.
“Yeah, it’s supposed to be, but I told her it was your last night in LA and we wanted to have dinner.”
“And she was fine with it?”
“Yeah, she was cool with it.” Surprisingly cool, actually. Wednesday date night had been Jess’s idea at the start of their relationship. She claimed it would be a good way to make sure they were staying connected, even when work got crazy. Sometimes Wednesday night had to become Tuesday or Thursday if Sebastian had to shoot at night, but Jess always said it was fine. Really, Sebastian couldn’t ask for a better, more understanding girlfriend.
“So what exactly do you do on date night?” Sebastian had barely rolled his eyes before Anthony was throwing a napkin at him. “I didn’t mean like that. Like, do you just eat dinner together? Don’t you do that anyway when you’re visiting her?”
“Yeah, but it’s like special, I guess.” Sebastian shrugged slightly. “She normally makes a reservation at a nice restaurant and we get dressed up. I open all the doors for her. I tell her she looks beautiful.”
“And you like doing that every week?” Mackie pressed.
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
“You taking notes, Anthony?” Chris laughed.
“No, I just think it’s a little boring compared to his dates with Y/N. I feel like she was always coming up with the most random date ideas.”
“To make up for the fact that we could go months without a real date. Most of our Wednesday nights together were dinner at the apartment and then sitting on the couch together while she did work.”
“And you read scripts,” Anthony pointed out. “Besides, don’t act like some of those date droughts weren’t because you were away filming and always forgot when you were supposed to call her.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m bad at long distance. Why do you think I visit Jess so much?”
“New York to LA isn’t that different from LA to San Francisco,” Anthony muttered, causing Chris to kick him under the table.
“I told you, we just couldn’t give each other enough attention. Y/N was busy. She’s not as willing to be as flexible as Jess.”
“More like she doesn’t let you get away with as much crap as Jess does.”
“Mackie, come on. It’s my last night in LA. Let’s not spend all night discussing Sebastian’s love life.” Anthony nodded at Chris’s request, but Sebastian could tell that he still had opinions to share. What did Anthony know, though? Sebastian’s relationship was fine. He felt perfectly fine.
————————
“Where the hell have you been, Y/N?”
She jumped slightly, almost falling out of her heels. And since when did she wear heels that high? Sebastian was sure he hadn’t seen those shoes in their closet.
“Sebastian?” She squinted. The low light in the apartment made it hard to see him clearly, though Sebastian wasn’t sure whether or not she could even see straight at that moment. “What are you doing here? You still have two weeks of shooting.”
He scoffed. “And I thought you were having a chill night in. What happened to takeout and a romcom?”
Y/N’s nostrils flared. They always did that when she was trying not to lash out at someone. The first time Sebastian had noticed that was sophomore year of high school, when she was trying to stop herself from going off on someone who had made an incredibly wrong point about a book they were discussing in class.
“Some people from work were going out to celebrate. It’s been a long week and we finally landed that big deal I was telling you about.”
It would be easier to let it go and just be excited about the deal. Y/N had been stressing about it all week, and even though Sebastian didn’t really understand it, he knew that it was important for Y/N. But he didn’t let it go.
“It’s 2 AM!”
“Ok? I’m an adult. If I want to stay out until 2, I can.”
“You shouldn’t go out without letting someone know. It could be dangerous. You don’t know who else is out there.”
“I was with people I’ve worked with for a year, and I did tell people I was going out. Now stop acting like my mother.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“Because you’re supposed to be in Atlanta! Last I heard, you had to film tonight.” Y/N pressed a hand against her eyes for a moment before glaring at Sebastian again. “And besides, I would have told you if you had answered my call this afternoon. The call that we planned because you’ve been too busy to call all week.”
“I told you that I was coming to visit this weekend!”
She looked at Sebastian like he had just grown another head or started speaking Latin. “What are you talking about?”
“I told you that I was coming to visit this weekend,” Sebastian repeated, a bit quieter this time.
“Are you talking about last month when you said that they might change the schedule so you might be able to come back for a day or two?”
“Yes!”
“You never mentioned that again! You never gave me any dates! I just assumed that they didn’t change the schedule. How was I supposed to know you were coming tonight?”
“I wanted to surprise you! You said you would be here tonight .”
“If you had answered-“
“If I had answered the damn call! I know I know! Damnit, Y/N, you should have been here!”
They were both breathing heavily at this point. Y/N shook her head slightly as her mouth opened and closed as if she was trying to figure out what to say.
“I’m not just going to wait around for you, Sebastian.” Y/N’s voice was quiet, but firm. “I’m not going to sit in the apartment by myself every night because you said that you might be able to come home on some unspecified day. I have a career and friends and a life that’s separate from you. I’m not just Sebastian Stan’s girlfriend.”
“I know!” Sebastian sat heavily on the couch. He ran a hand over his face. It came back wet. Slowly, his shoulders started to shake before a sob finally escaped. “I know,” he repeated hoarsely.
There was a dip next to him, and then Y/N’s head was resting on his arm. “Ok, so what’s really wrong?”
He sighed. How had this night gone so wrong? “It was just a really bad week at work. I just heard back from a part that I really wanted. I didn’t get it. I just really wanted to see you, and when you weren’t here, I started panicking. And then you showed up and you had been having fun and your work is going well and it was just…I don’t know.”
“You needed to blow off some steam.” Sebastian nodded. “I'm sorry that you’ve been having a tough time, but next time I’d appreciate if you didn’t take it out on me.”
“I won’t.”
They sat in silence for a minute before Y/N spoke. “When do you leave?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“I think that tomorrow we need to discuss our communication problems.”
“Do you really think that’s necessary?”
“I do, Sebastian. Right now, the only reason we ever talk is because I bend over backwards to fit your schedule. I know that you’re busy, but so am I. I want our relationship to work. Like really work long term. But I can’t just not live my life because I’m waiting around for you to call. It’s not fair if you constantly reschedule last minute after I’ve gone to all this trouble to make time.”
“You’re right.”
“I know I am.” Finally, Sebastian cracked a smile. The sound of Y/N’s laughter from beside him made his heart swell up with joy. “You know, I think that was our first big fight as a couple.”
“I didn’t like it.”
“I didn’t either. From now on, no more bottling up our feelings until we explode. Deal?” Sebastian nodded. “Good. Can we go to bed now, Seb?” Sebastian didn’t say anything. Instead, he simply picked Y/N up bridal style and carried her into the bedroom while she shrieked with laughter.
————————
His relationship with Jess was never as explosive as his relationship with Y/N had been. Surely that was a good thing. There were no 2 AM fights. If Sebastian showed up at her house to surprise her, she would cancel any plans she had to spend time with him. It didn’t matter if he was late picking her up for a date night, she was out at his car in no time. She hadn’t even kept him waiting the one time he had gotten the times mixed up and had gone to pick her up an hour early.
If he said he didn’t want to talk about something, she dropped it. If he said he wanted some space, she gave him space. If he said he was going to call and then ended up having to hang up after a few minutes, she didn’t get mad. She was incredibly understanding about everything. He couldn’t remember the last time they had fought.
In fact, had they ever fought. Maybe? She told him she didn’t like his cologne and had been a little annoyed that he had kept wearing it anyway, but she never pushed the matter with him. Any time she seemed annoyed, she just smiled and told him to forget about it. So much easier than a 2 AM fight.
And yet, Sebastian couldn’t help but remember the 2 AM dance parties in the kitchen because he was jet lagged and Y/N decided that the best use of jet lag was making cupcakes and listening to big band music. And the times that Y/N, who somehow always knew when something was bothering him, wouldn’t let him rest until he told her. He always felt better after he did, even if she had no advice. Even if her advice was to get his head out of his ass because he was the one in the wrong.
Jess only told him to take a sleeping pill and go to bed when he was jet lagged. She wouldn’t dance with him in the kitchen late at night. And she certainly wouldn’t dance with him in the rain.
“What are you thinking about?” Sebastian was pulled from his thoughts by Jess’s voice. His girlfriend settled into the couch next to him. His girlfriend. She was his girlfriend.
“Nothing much.”
“You sure? You looked pretty intense.”
“I’m sure.” Jess returned Sebastian’s grin, but he wasn’t sure if she actually believed him. Either way, she didn’t press.
“I talked to your mom earlier.”
That seemed to come out of nowhere. “My mom? Why?” It couldn’t be anything too important or she would have called him first.
Jess shrugged. “Just to chat. She had some questions about New York Fashion Week. I think she might be hoping I can get her into shows or something.”
“I didn’t know you were going to walk in Fashion Week.”
“I’m not yet, but there might still be time. Imagine how good we’d look together there. There would be so many pictures of us together.” Sebastian didn’t say anything, so she continued. “I also talked to your stepdad a bit. I asked him if he had any funny stories about you from school.”
Why was she talking to his parents? That seemed a little strange to Sebastian. They had only been dating for a couple months, and she had only met his parents once and that was partly by accident. Of course, Sebastian wasn’t really sure when it was normal for his girlfriend to meet his parents. Y/N had already known them. She probably knew even more embarrassing stories than his stepdad did.
“You ready to watch the movie?” Sebastian asked so he didn’t have to hear her talk about his parents more.
She snuggled closer to him. “Are you comfortable?”
“Yeah,” he answered. “I’m comfortable.” And he was. That was the perfect word for his relationship with Jess. She didn’t push him the same way that Y/N had. They didn’t hit the same lows, but they also didn’t hit the same highs. It was comfortable.
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The air smelled like rain. The weather app had said there wasn’t a chance that night, but it seemed like it would be wrong. Y/N’s heels clicked on the sidewalk with each step, but the noise of the city drowned them out. They didn’t drown out the pleas from her boyfriend.
“Y/N, come on. You’re being ridiculous.” Sebastian jogged after Y/N, who could walk surprisingly fast in heels when she wanted to.
“I’m being ridiculous? I spent the weeks planning everything for your perfect birthday evening and we didn’t do any of it.”
“We got drinks like you planned.”
“Yes, but we were supposed to get drinks, then go to a different restaurant, where I made a reservation two months ago. We were not supposed to stay there to eat, then go out drinking with some random people.”
“They’re not random people. I’ve worked with them before. I haven’t seen them in forever.” They had been about to pay for drinks and leave when Sebastian had caught sight of some actors he had worked with a couple years before. Y/N had hoped that the reunions would end after some pleasantries, but that hadn’t been the case. “And they paid for everything! You should be thanking them.”
“Okay, I know that what they did was nice, and if it had been any other night I would have loved it. But it’s your birthday and you’re only home for a couple days before you have to go back.”
“I know it sucks-”
Y/N stopped so suddenly that Sebastian almost ran into her. She wheeled around and jabbed a finger at his chest. “No, what sucks is spending any free time you have researching restaurants and bars so that you can plan the perfect drinks, then dinner, then a nice walk, then desserts before heading home to watch a movie. Last year, you said that would be your perfect birthday, so that’s what I did. And now it doesn’t even matter.”
“I didn’t ask you to do all that. I would have been fine with dinner at home.”
“I haven’t seen you in person in three months. When you said that I could plan whatever I wanted for your birthday, I wanted to make it special.” “There’s still time to make it special.” Sebastian raised his eyebrows suggestively. When he tried to grab Y/N’s hand, she yanked it back before turning and continuing down the street.
“We wasted all our time clubbing. God, we’re too old to spend a birthday clubbing. It’s almost 2 in the morning, and your flight leaves at 10.”
“So we can really go crazy and pull an all-nighter. I’m sure there are still some fun activities you had planned that we can do at home.”
“I have a meeting at 11. I’ll barely have enough time to prep after dropping you off at the airport.”
“Then don’t bother dropping me off. I can call a car.”
“Sebastian.” Y/N always took him to the airport when he had to leave. It was their little way of squeezing out every second they had together.
“Well if it’s going to be such an inconvenience, don’t worry about it.” This time it was Sebastian who continued to walk when Y/N stopped to look at him.
“It wasn’t supposed to be an inconvenience. I was supposed to have time to wake up early to go over everything before taking you to the airport. If we had stuck to the plan-”
A raindrop landed on Y/N’s nose. Of course, neither of them had brought an umbrella or a raincoat. They were supposed to have been home hours before the rain started.
“Oh my god. The plan this! The plan that! It’s always about your plans.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s like you’re incapable of not having a plan. Everything has to be scheduled. Everything has to have a defined next step. If anyone strays from the plan, all you can do is complain.” Sebastian ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it out of his face as the rain started to really come down.
“I’m sorry that I care! I’m sorry that I just wanted you to have a good birthday.”
“That’s not what I’m saying! Sometimes I just want to go with the flow. Like going out with some friends I hadn’t seen in forever. Or going to the first gelato place I see.”
“Oh my god, are you still upset about the gelato?” They had gone to Italy for a couple weeks that summer. There had been a small tiff about which gelato place they should go to one afternoon. “The other place had way better reviews, and it was only around the corner. You still got gelato!”
“Yeah but by then I was so annoyed that I couldn’t enjoy it.”
“Fine! Next time you can get some subpar gelato, while I go get better gelato. In fact, you can eat wherever you want the next time you go on vacation. You want seafood that’ll almost certainly give you food poisoning? Go for it. You want an overpriced salad that’s almost exactly the same as a cheaper one you could get two streets over. Waste your money. I don’t care anymore.”
“I never asked you to do any of that though!”
“Fuck you, Sebastian! I’m sorry that I care!” At this point, the rain was coming down hard enough that it was impossible for Sebastian to see the tears rolling down Y/N’s cheeks. But he could still hear them in her voice. “It’s just that I care about you so much that sometimes it feels like I’m going to explode. And I don’t get to be around you all the time, so I have to put all that energy into so much less than I want to. I know that I can go a bit far with plans, but sometimes I like having a plan.”
“It’s okay.” Gently, Sebastian grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. She seemed to collapse into him as he wrapped his arms around her. “It’s okay. I like how on top of everything you are most of the time, but sometimes it can be fun to just see what happens. I don’t mean to upset you when I do that.”
“I know, but it feels like you don’t care about all the work that I did.”
“I’m sorry. Maybe this is something we can work on.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, remember when I was so bad at communication?” Y/N smiled slightly and nodded. “Maybe you can work on going with the flow a bit more. Do something spontaneous. Go for a walk and see where you end up, like you used to when we first moved in together. Take a vacation and don’t make any plans. I know that you like living in the moment.”
“Work is way too busy right now to start being spontaneous. I’ll basically be living at the office for the next couple months.” That was the problem with Y/N’s job. Even though she enjoyed the work and was good at it, there was always so much going on that it made it almost impossible for Y/N to have time to do anything else. “Stop making that face, Seb. I know you don’t like my job.”
“It’s not that I don’t like your job. I just don’t like how stressed it makes you. Maybe you should take the job at that startup. The one with the guy you went to school with.”
“I’m not sure a startup is the best way to be less stressed. Plus, it’s in San Francisco.”
“Yeah, but I’ll be really busy next year, so we’d probably be apart anyway. At least think about it. That’ll be spontaneous enough.”
“Whatever you say, Seb.”
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The smile on Sebastian’s face felt fake. Everything about his relationship felt fake nowadays. And Jess had no idea. She couldn’t see it.
His girlfriend sat across from him, his beautiful, kind girlfriend, and he felt nothing. There was no rush of happiness when he saw her. There was no ache in his chest when he was away from her. And worst all, he couldn’t be sure there had ever been.
Had he felt anything for Jess besides physical attraction? Deep down, he didn’t think so. She had just been a way to get over Y/N. It had worked for a while. He had convinced himself that he was happy with her. But then he had seen Y/N.
He wasn’t supposed to go to the wedding, and maybe he shouldn’t have. Y/N would have had a lot more fun if he hadn’t been there. Maybe it had been a bit selfish, but he had to see her. He missed her. He wanted her back in his life. Even though he tried to pretend it wasn’t true, he wanted her back. He still loved her.
And she still loved him. She probably also hated him, at least a little bit, despite what she said. But she still loved him. Ever since he had heard those words, his world had started to dim.
He hadn’t noticed it at first. Maybe he was slower to laugh at jokes. Maybe he started finding date night tedious, rather than sweet. And maybe he started thinking about what Y/N was doing whenever possible.
You couldn’t blame him, really. Jess was an open book. She was nice. She was, at least partly, using him for publicity. She was pretty. He could guess what she would say at any moment. As great as she was, she wasn’t very deep.
Y/N, on the other hand, was a wild card. Yes, she could be a little plan heavy, but she really shone when she let herself cut loose. When she booked flights to Italy on a whim or decided they should go skydiving during the weekend. Or even when she accidentally found their new favorite Indian restaurant because she wasn’t paying attention when walking home and ended up on the wrong street.
Did she sometimes want to make him bang his head against a wall? Yes. But she also made him a better person. She didn’t let him get away with any crap. And she was the only thing he ever wanted to think about.
“Jess,” Sebastian said, interrupting whatever story she had been telling. “We need to talk.”
————————
It was raining so hard that Sebastian almost walked right past the building. Of course, Sebastian didn’t have an umbrella. Wasn’t it supposed to not rain in California? Or maybe LA rules didn’t apply to San Francisco. Either way, Sebastian was drenched by the time that he stood outside of the apartment building.
The doorman raised an eyebrow as Sebastian dripped on his floor. “How can I help you?”
“I’m here to see Y/N.” Did she even still live in this apartment? He wasn’t sure. She had only signed the lease for a year, so maybe she had moved. Sebastian tried to keep walking towards the elevator, but the doorman was quick to stop him.
“She’s not available right now, but I’ll let her know you stopped by. Goodnight.” Arguing seemed pointless. It was getting late, and he was a strange man as far as the doorman was concerned. But what did not available mean? Was she out? Or did she have someone up in her apartment? If only he had been able to go up. It was his own fault for insisting she get an apartment with a doorman.
Back outside in the rain, he looked up at the window that he knew was hers. Or at least had been the last time he had visited. He had looked up at the window and watched her wave as he drove away. Every time it got harder to leave. Harder to be sure that she would still want him when he came back.
Without any other good plan, Sebastian did the first thing he could think of. “Y/N!” he yelled. Would the other people in the apartment building think he was crazy? Maybe. Did he care? No. Maybe if he yelled enough, she would come down. Would it come off as romcom-esque or just creepy? Maybe he should have brought a boom box or something.
“Sebastian?”
He spun around so quickly that he almost slipped on the wet sidewalk. There she was. She was wearing a raincoat that seemed to almost swallow her, and the hood hid her face. Some part of Sebastian’s mind pointed out that it was his raincoat. He must have forgotten it at her apartment once. She had a backpack on and takeout in one hand, which Sebastian knew meant she was just getting back from work.
“Sebastian, what are you doing here?” She didn’t sound mad, just confused. That was fair, really. After their run in at the wedding reception, she probably hadn’t expected to see him, at least for a long time.
“I miss you.” That was all Sebastian was able to choke out at first.
Y/N started shaking her head and brought a hand up to her eyes, knocking the hood of the raincoat down. She didn’t seem to notice. “No, Sebastian. I told you-“
“I know. I know what you told me.” Y/N’s eyes tentatively met his. “But I do miss you. And I do want you back. Not just as a friend. Breaking up with you was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”
“Then why did you do it?” Sebastian hated how small she sounded. He hated that he was the reason for it.
“I was scared.”
“You were scared? I was the one with a new job in a new city.”
“I knew that you would take it all by storm though. You always do. And it just felt like the more you settled in here, the less you needed me. I knew that one day you would realize that you had outgrown me. I guess I was trying to save myself from that pain, so I ended things first.”
“Outgrow you? Sebastian, I love you. I could never outgrow that.”
“You’re way too good for me. And you're constantly surrounded by people who are smarter than me. People you can have real conversations about your work with. You don’t have to dumb stuff down for them.”
“If I want to talk to them about work, then I’ll do it at work. They don’t make me smile like you do though. I don’t enjoy being around them as much as I enjoy being around you. Who cares if you don’t understand all of that boring business stuff? You’re still smart. And kind. And you’re the one I always wanted to come home to at the end of the day.”
She was close enough to touch now. Sebastian wasn’t sure if he had been walking towards her or if she had been walking towards him. Maybe it was both.
“What about Jess?”
“We broke up.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Well it only happened a couple hours ago.”
“Sebastian!” Y/N swatted him on the arm, but she was laughing. “Did you break up with her and then come here?”
“I figured you probably wouldn’t take me back if I was still dating someone else.”
“Yeah. You’re probably right.” Y/N smiled up at him. Gently, he placed a hand on her cheek and kissed her. The feeling was just as exciting as the first time they had kissed. Sebastian couldn’t help but smile. When they pulled away, Y/N was smiling too.
“We’re going to make this work,” Sebastian said. “I don’t care if I have to fly here every day to see you. I’m not letting you go again.”
“Actually, I have a solution that might be a bit easier.” The sly smile on Y/N’s face made Sebastian smile too. “The startup was just acquired by a bigger company-”
“Is that good?”
“For the most part. It’s good for me because I’ll be in charge of expanding our little startup. That means,” she continued, seeing the look of confusion on Sebastian’s face, “that I’ll be doing a lot of traveling around to new offices. Whenever I’m not needed at a specific office, I can work anywhere.”
“Anywhere?” Sebastian was starting to see where she was going with this, but he tried to keep himself from getting his hopes up.
“I was planning on staying here for a couple more months before moving back to New York, but I can work from anywhere as long as I have a computer and wifi. I’m pretty sure they have both of those in places like LA or Atlanta or wherever you’re filming. I’ll still be busy, but we’ll be together.”
Whatever else Y/N was going to say was forgotten when Sebastian picked her up and spun her around. “I’ve missed you,” Sebastian whispered as he put her back down.
“So I’ve heard.” Sebastian laughed and pressed a kiss on Y/N’s wet hair. “I’ve missed you too, Seb. I have one more question though.”
“Ask me anything.”
“Do you think this food is too waterlogged to eat?” She lifted the takeout bag slightly.
“I guess we have to hope the plastic bag did its job.” Sebastian took the bag out of her hand and wrapped his other arm around her shoulders. “I hope you ordered enough for me.”
“I hope so too. I wasn’t exactly expecting you though.”
“I hope it was a good surprise though.”
Y/N squeezed Sebastian’s waist. “The best. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
i rly enjoy the umbrella academy / criminal minds series & would love to see what u do w it! but obvi take care of urself first & foremost!!!! just lyk that there’s an audience for it still haha
I’m so glad you like it! I’m trying to get back into writing, so hopefully I’ll have more of the series out sooner rather than later. It’s good to know there’s still an audience for it. I’ve been a little worried I’ve left it too long😅
My therapist thinks that I should get back in the habit of writing so maybe I’ll actually finish the sequel to don’t you and the umbrella academy/criminal minds series 😅
Fanfic authors be like “stay tuned for more” or “to be continued” and then don’t update for twenty years, lmao.
Fearless
Prequel to Don’t You
Pairing: Sebastian Stan x reader
Word count: 4.5k
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“Looks like it finally stopped raining.”
The murmur of the coffee shop was replaced by the sounds of the city as you followed Sebastian outside. The humidity seemed to hit you like a truck, making you miss the air conditioning you had just left.
“Finally. I thought I was going to be stuck in that coffee shop with you forever.” You laughed at the faux offended look on Sebastian’s face. “That’s what I get for not checking the weather.”
“Next time I’ll let you wait out the rain by yourself,” Sebastian threatened. His grin made the corners of his eyes crinkle a bit. Had they always done that? Had you just never noticed before?
“At least then I won’t have a bunch of teenage girls taking pictures of me the whole time. They’re scary. How do you deal with that all the time?” It had been disconcerting to have the group of girls staring at you and Sebastian as you sat and chatted. For a moment, you had thought you were crazy when you noticed them looking. The first thought you had was that you had something on your face or needed to fix your hair, but you realized why they were so focused on your table when they walked over to ask Sebastian for pictures.
Sebastian let out a sigh as he shrugged. For a second you were worried that you had said something wrong. “I just try to ignore it most of the time. I’m polite if they come up to me. I’d rather they like me than hate me.”
“I’m sure you have lots of stories. You’ll have to tell me sometime.” Your eyes widened when you realized what you’d said. What if he didn’t want to see you again? “I mean, if you’re staying in the city long. I’m sure you’re really busy.”
“I’ve got some promo to do soon, but I’m not filming again for a few months. I wanted a bit of the break.” Sebastian waved his hand. “Let’s not talk about my work. What about you? You taking the business world by storm?”
“Well I did just get a raise, so now I can almost afford my rent, groceries, and student loans.” The joys of living in New York City.
“Ah sounds like everything’s going well then. Are your parents still around?” Your parents had basically fallen in love with Sebastian when they first met him freshman year. A group of your friends had come over to your house for a movie night and Sebastian had insisted on staying to help you clean up after everyone else had left. Your mom had spent the next few weeks not so subtly dropping hints that she thought you should date him.
“Yeah they’re still in Jersey. They tried to convince me to move in with them, but I told them I didn’t want to have to commute into the city every day. Of course, that set them off about how that’s what they’ve been doing my whole life because they didn’t want me growing up without a yard or whatever.”
“So it sounds like they haven’t changed much?” You shook your head slightly to force yourself to stop watching Sebastian as he laughed.
“No they have not.” You bumped your shoulder against Sebastian’s gently. “They’re your number one fans, you know.”
“Oh they are?” His eyebrows raised in surprise, and he was already fighting a smile, no doubt waiting to hear what embarrassing things your parents had done since high school graduation.
“They see all of your movies in theaters.” Multiple times, but you didn’t want Sebastian to think they were weirdos.
“Even the bad ones?”
“Even the bad ones. I did tell them that they aren’t allowed to buy any of the Bucky dolls.”
“They’re action figures.”
You rolled your eyes, but found yourself matching Sebastian’s smile anyway. “Whatever. It’d be weird seeing a mini version of you at my parents’ house. It’s bad enough that they still have a bunch of high school pictures hung up.”
“My mom does too. She’s going to be so excited when I tell her that I ran into you. You were always her favorite of our group.”
You stopped suddenly, grabbing Sebastian’s arm. He looked a little alarmed, but you ignored it. “Are you serious? I was always so scared of her. This is the best day of my life.” You had met Sebastian’s mom a couple of times throughout high school, but had never been able to tell whether or not she liked you.
“Scared of her? Why? Because of the accent?”
“The accent didn’t help, but really it was because she’s hot. That makes her intimidating.”
Sebastian groaned and pulled a face. “No. You can’t think my mom is hot. That’s not allowed. Take it back or I’m sending your parents all of the Bucky dolls I can find.”
“It’s not like I wanted to bang her or anything. I just think that she’s an attractive woman. Which makes sense considering how attractive you are.” Your mouth snapped shut. You weren’t sure who was blushing more, you or Sebastian. “Let’s forget about this whole conversation.” Sebastian laughed slightly and nodded.
It was silent between you two as you continued your walk through the streets. You weren’t really sure where he was going. You were heading to your car, but you couldn’t tell if Sebastian was also going somewhere or if he was just following you. If you had looked up, you would have noticed that Sebastian was watching you carefully. But you didn’t look up. Your eyes were on the pavement, watching the glow of the lights in the reflection from the rain.
“Do you remember that poster that was in our English class freshman year?” you asked suddenly. Sebastian’s brow crinkled slightly as he tried to remember, but then he followed your gaze to the glowing pavement and smiled.
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” The two of you laughed slightly as you remembered your slightly eccentric teacher. “We made fun of that poster so much.”
“It was a stupid poster. But remember it was raining when we were leaving the homecoming dance freshman year and we started dancing in the parking lot-”
“And all of our friends thought we were crazy,” Sebastian finished. “To be fair, we were crazy. That was probably the most fun part of the dance though.”
“Are you saying that I was a bad date?” You gasped and brought your hand up to your mouth as if Sebastian had offended you. Both of you dissolved into giggles.
“I’m saying that I was probably a bad date. I was so awkward. I had such a big crush on you.” Sebastian rubbed his neck uncomfortably. You definitely didn’t notice how the action made his arms look.
“Wait really?” This was news to you. You had always kind of assumed that Sebastian didn’t like you very much. He had always seemed to just tolerate your presence.
“Oh yeah. All the guys used to make fun of me because I got so awkward around you. That’s why I never talked when you were with us.”
“I just thought you were shy or something.” Or that he secretly hated you.
“Well that too,” Sebastian admitted with a small grin.
“You should have just told me. I had a crush on you too. I was so excited when you asked me to the dance.” You were so engrossed in conversation that you almost walked right past your car. “Oh, this is me.”
“Oh.” Was it your imagination or did Sebastian look disappointed? Before you could figure it out, he was smiling again. “It’s been nice catching up. We should hang out again. You still have the same number?”
You assured Sebastian that you did and the two of you exchanged more pleasantries. After sliding into your car, you watched Sebastian continue down the street. The memory of the two of you dancing wildly in the parking lot while the rest of your friends complained about the rain made you smile. You kind of wished you had asked him to dance again.
————————
Part of you already wished that this weekend would never end, even though it had barely even begun. You had finally made it out of the city and still had a couple hours of driving left, but you were already dreading having to go back into the office on Monday.
You and Sebastian had been hanging out more since running into each other last month. Most of the time, you got away without any pictures of the two of you getting out, but recently that had been getting harder and harder to do. Now, through what you could only assume was some sort of social media stalking witchcraft, people had managed to figure out who you were. The hundreds of notifications had freaked you out at first, but after deleting all of the social media apps from your phone, it was totally not a big deal.
Until your coworkers had found out. Some magazine had printed a picture of you and Sebastian, including your name underneath it, so now everyone at the office was either making fun of you by pretending to take paparazzi pictures whenever you walked into a room or constantly asking about Sebastian. Needless to say, you desperately needed this weekend away.
“Hungry eyes,” Sebastian sang, rather poorly though you suspected that was on purpose. You had seen him in musicals in high school. He half turned towards you, reaching out with one hand while the other stayed on the wheel, as he continued to sing along to the music. “One look at you and I can’t disguise these-”
“Keep your eyes on the road,” you scolded, though you couldn’t help but laugh at his bad attempt to hit a high note. “You know, I was worried that you would get us killed at the cabin, but now I know you’re going to get us killed before we even make it there. And stop caressing my hair.” You slapped his hand away for emphasis.
He reached out again to run a hand down your hair. “I am not caressing your hair-”
“Definitely were.”
“-and I am not going to get us killed. We are going to have a nice relaxing weekend at a cabin that I rented and am graciously letting you stay at without paying me back. And we aren’t going to worry about paparazzi or annoying coworkers or random people on the street with cell phones.” There may have been a incident earlier that week where you had almost gone up to a random person in the street to yell at them about taking pictures of you and Sebastian. It turned out they were just a lost tourist who barely spoke English. That was when Sebastian decided that you needed a vacation too.
“I think I’m paying you back by forcing myself to spend time with you. You’re very hard to get along with. Plus, I have no money for vacations. We can’t all be actors in Marvel movies.” The trees blurred by as Sebastian drove down the highway.
“You know, I could probably get you in the next Captain America movie. You might not have any lines, but you could stand in the background.” Had he ever offered any of your other friends from high school roles in his movies? No, you couldn't let yourself get caught up in these kinds of questions.
“Sebastian, thanks again-”
“Stop! I told you to stop thanking me-”
“Thanks again,” you continued loudly, “for inviting me. I know that you were looking forward to a relaxing weekend away before you have press stuff. If you want, we don’t have to talk to each other. I don’t want to ruin your relaxation.”
Sebastian shifted uncomfortably in his seat at your thanks, but then shot you an incredulous look. “How would you ruin my relaxation? I wouldn’t have invited you if I didn’t want to spend time with you.”
“Promise?”
Sebastian sent you a smile that was so full of warmth that you could have melted right there. You were definitely getting caught up now. You tried to snap yourself out of it by thinking about all of the reasons you could never date Sebastian. First, he was Sebastian. He knew what you looked like when you were young and awkward. He had seen the awful bangs you cut yourself sophomore year. Second, he was Sebastian Stan. Surely he’d never date a nobody like you. Not that he was stuck up now. He was surprisingly similar to how he had been in high school. It’s just, he could date models if he wanted to. You were definitely not a model. And you wouldn’t even want to date someone in the spotlight like him. Third, you had been on like two dates with the skeazy guy from accounting. If you ignored most of what he said, he was only a little skeazy. Barely tolerable really. You could work with that.
But then Sebastian ran his hand through his hair, and you had to bite your lip to stop yourself from saying anything stupid. Did he know what he was doing or was he just naturally this cool now? Either way, it was going to be a long weekend.
————————
The dance was not fun. Whoever was writing the prom scenes in all of those cheesy movies was full of crap. The decorations looked bad, your dress was uncomfortable, and you were so busy making sure everything was running smoothly that you weren’t even getting to enjoy your senior prom. You never should have agreed to head the prom committee. Surely the night would be more fun if you didn’t have any responsibilities.
Except you’d probably still be standing on the edges of the dancing watching as all of your friends danced with their boyfriends. You had thought that this would finally be the dance you had a boyfriend for, but then your boyfriend broke up with you less than two weeks before because you were spending too much time working on prom. Great. Wonderful.
It had been difficult to mentally prepare yourself to go to senior prom without a date after working so hard on it. It had seemed almost poetic when Sebastian asked you. The two of you had gone to your first high school dance together and now you were at your last high school dance together.
Except Sebastian had barely talked to you all night. In fact, he had barely even looked at you. At least, that’s what you thought. Sebastian later confessed to you that he was scared he’d get in the way of your prom committee duties so he watched you from afar as you took care of the last minute issues. But you didn’t know that yet.
“Decided to actually acknowledge me?” you snapped when Sebastian leaned against the wall beside you.
Sebastian rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. He was probably already regretting coming over to talk to you. “I probably deserve that. You just seemed busy.”
“There were a couple of issues that I had to take care of. I still want to enjoy the dance though.”
“So let’s enjoy it.” Sebastian held his hand out to you and nodded to the dance floor. You smiled gratefully at him and took his hand, letting him lead you out.
Neither of you were great dancers, and the dance floor was maybe a little too crowded, but you made the best of it. After bumping into another couple one too many times, you and Sebastian retired back to the wall, perfectly content to watch the others and whisper amongst yourselves.
“So have you had fun tonight?” Sebastian asked. You had, which was surprising considering how badly the night had started out. Sometimes you forgot how well you and Sebastian could get on. It was so rare to talk to him one on one. You really didn’t know how prom could have gone better. You were kind of disappointed that prom was wrapping up. Already, the dance floor had begun emptying as people left for various after parties.
“I did.” Sebastian grinned, obviously pleased with your answer. “But it wasn’t nearly as good as homecoming freshman year.”
Sebastian's smile faded as he tried to recall the dance you were talking about. “Wasn’t that dance really awkward though?”
“Sure the actual dance was,” you shrugged. “But dancing in the parking lot after was one of my favorite high school memories.”
Sebastian threw his head back to laugh, his hand resting on your shoulder to steady himself. “I’ll admit that I’m kind of glad it’s not raining tonight. My mom was not happy that I got my suit wet. But we can still dance like that tonight. There’s plenty of room on the dance floor.”
“Absolutely not,” you scoffed. “We’d look crazy.”
“Everyone here is either our friend or someone who we’ll probably never see again.” Sebastian held his hand out to you. You bit your lip as you considered before meeting his eyes. He raised an eyebrow in challenge.
“Fine.” Sebastian laughed as you took his hand, once again allowing him to drag you onto the dance floor. He was truly fearless in his dancing this time. Obviously you had to follow suit and ignore the looks people were throwing you as you and Sebastian twirled and spun and jumped around. By the time it was time to leave the dance, you both were red faced and breathless with laughter. The sky was perfectly clear as you walked through the parking lot, but part of you wished it was raining so you could once again dance in a storm in your best dress with Sebastian.
————————
“I thought you weren’t talking to me because you didn’t really want to go with me.”
“What?” Sebastian took his eyes off the road quickly to look over at you. “Why would I ask you if I didn’t want to go with you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe our friends told you to since neither of us had dates.”
“You’re crazy. I was so intimidated by you that I didn’t want to get in your way.” You scoffed and started to speak but Sebastian shushed you. “You’ve always been the most impressive person in the room.”
You weren’t entirely sure how to respond to that. Sebastian Stan thought that you were impressive. But what exactly did that mean? That he thought it was neat that you managed to wrangle high school students enough to plan prom? He said ‘you’ve always’ which seemed to imply that he still felt that way. Right? But he was a successful actor. He worked with people way more impressive than you every day.
The thoughts flashed furiously through your head as Sebastian continued to drive slowly through the town. He had certainly achieved his goal to get away from the city. It was hard to believe the small town you’d spent the weekend in was so in the same state as the city. Paparazzi had certainly not been a worry for the two of you. Eventually, the car reached the end of the road. Rather than turning around and heading back into town, Sebastian put the car in park.
“I don’t want to go back,” he sighed. You had to agree with him. You wanted to stay right there. It had been so relaxing to get away from it all. No paparazzi. No fans. No coworkers. Just you and Sebastian. But it couldn’t last. You had work, and Sebastian had interviews.
“So let’s stay here,” you suggested. “We’ll stock up on food and then barricade ourselves in the cabin. We’ll obviously have to defend ourselves when Marvel comes looking for you and my company comes looking for me, but I have complete confidence that we can take them.” Not that you had reached a position in the company where they would notice you were missing. Maybe after a week or two they’d notice something was off. Marvel was sure to be quicker though.
“Ha ha you’ve made your point.” He sighed again. “This has been the best weekend I’ve had in a long time. Thanks for coming with me.”
“Thanks for inviting me.” Your voice sounded small in the sudden stillness of the car. Sebastian’s eyes flickered over your face, going from your eyes to your lips. “What did you mean earlier?”
“About what?”
“When you said that I was always the most impressive person in the room.” You were a little nervous about his answer. There was a good chance you’d made it out to be deeper than he meant. But then you remembered how fearless and free you felt when Sebastian led you out onto the dance floor at prom, and you knew you had to know the answer.
“Exactly that. I’m constantly in awe of you. The way you were the smartest person at school. I mean, I think you’re still the smartest person I know. I don’t understand anything you’re saying when you talk about work. You always knew exactly what to say to diffuse any of our friends’ drama. You’re kind and funny and always keep me on my toes.” Sebastian paused for a moment. You tried to speak, but all you could do was look at his beautiful blue eyes. “Running into you might be the best thing to ever happen to me.”
“Sebastian,” you murmured. Before you could think of anything else to say, Sebastian’s lips were on yours. You smiled into the kiss as you ran your fingers through Sebastian’s hair. It was the perfect length. You tried your best to capture the memory of this moment. The feel of his lips. His hand on your cheek. The faint sound of birds chirping outside. The patter of rain on the car roof. It was all perfect, and you wanted to remember every second of it.
————————
You didn’t know how life could get better than this. Sebastian’s hand was entwined with your own as you walked through the streets. You had been nervous about this at first. What would his fans think? So far they had been curious but benign when it came to you. Hopefully that wouldn’t change now.
You had almost cancelled when Sebastian showed up at your door. A night in suddenly sounded really good. He hadn’t let you though. Instead, Sebastian had grabbed your hand and pulled you out onto the street. You laughed as he twirled you, causing the skirt of your favorite dress to flow out.
“Good thing it’s not raining today,” Sebastian had laughed. “This would be much less enjoyable if we were getting rained on.”
“I don’t know about that. I think we normally have a pretty good time in the rain.”
You had managed to walk to the restaurant without being spotted, though you had noticed some people taking pictures as you were eating. By the time the bill had been paid, you were more than happy to take Sebastian’s hand and follow him outside. A short walk later and the two of you were strolling around a park eating ice cream on the way back to your apartment.
“So did you have fun tonight?” Sebastian asked.
“I did,” you admitted with a smile. “It was a lot better than I was expecting.”
“Ouch.” Sebastian made a faux wounded expression that ended up making you both laugh. “I didn’t realize you thought I’d be a bad date.”
“It wasn’t you I was worried about. Your fans kind of terrify me. Not gonna lie. I half expected them to show up at the restaurant and start pelting me with rotten fruit or something.”
“That would certainly kill the mood, but I don’t think you have to worry about people throwing fruit at you.”
“No. I just have to worry about what people are going to be saying about me online.”
“Hey, stop.” Sebastian caught your hand and pulled you back to where he had stopped walking. His hands cupped both sides of your face as he looked seriously at you. “It’s going to be ok. Yeah, there are going to be some people who say some mean things. Just ignore it. It’s why I don’t bother with social media much. It doesn’t matter what they say.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one they’re going to accuse of dating someone just to latch onto their fame or money.” Soon after you and Sebastian had started hanging out, the posts about you trying to use Sebastian’s game to get ahead had started. It didn’t really make much sense. Being friends with an actor wasn’t going to get you promoted any sooner. Still, they had annoyed you and sometimes made you feel weird about being around Sebastian.
“I know that you’re not using me. You know that you’re not using me. Everyone that matters will know that you’re not using me. If anything, I’m getting the better end of our relationship. I’m getting to date the most amazing woman ever.”
“Most amazing woman ever?” you repeated. “I’m not sure I have the necessary qualifications for that title.”
“Would you like to hear your qualifications?”
“Yes I would.” You giggled slightly, feeling like a kid with a crush, when Sebastian slung his arm around you and pulled you close so that he could whisper in your ear.
“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. You are the smartest person I know. You’re kind and funny and you know all of this already because I’ve told you it before.”
“Yeah but I wanted to hear it again.” Your face was so close to Sebastian’s as you whispered back to him that your noses were almost touching. You hardly dared to breathe as your eyes flickered between his eyes and his lips.
Sebastian just barely started moving closer when you both heard “Is that Sebastian Stan?” coming from a nearby group of people. You jumped back almost immediately, blushing like a kid who was caught holding hands on the playground. Sebastian sent you a small smile before turning to face the fans who had come up to ask for pictures. Once he was finally finished with that, he took your hand again and led you back towards your apartment. Hopefully, no one had gotten a picture of you two in the park about to kiss. Despite what Sebastian had said, you were still scared of what people would say. Your hands shook slightly as you walked, so you slipped your hand out of his, hoping he hadn’t noticed.
Quicker than you would have liked, you were back outside your apartment building. “Do you want to come up?” you asked when he stopped on the sidewalk.
Sebastian shook his head. “I have to be up early tomorrow, and, if I go up, I’m never gonna want to leave.” Sebastian grabbed your hands, which were still shaking, and pulled you close before resting his hands on your hips. “I had a great time tonight.” He smiled, making you feel a bit more brave. This was just Sebastian. The same Sebastian you had known for years growing up.
Slowly, Sebastian brought a hand up to your face, giving you plenty of time to stop him. But you didn’t want to. He was making you feel a bit fearless. You grinned as he kissed you softly. Even though it wasn’t your first kiss, it certainly felt like it. Although technically, it was your first kiss as an official couple. And it was your first kiss out in public, where someone could take a picture that would make its way through the Marvel fandom.
But that didn’t matter to you now. The kiss was flawless. And despite whatever people online were probably already posting about you, you would never regret this moment. Life with Sebastian was undeniably better than life without him.
————————
tags
@bbl32
Don’t You
Summary: You’re at a friend’s wedding when you run into your ex Sebastian, who smiles and asks you how you’ve been
Pairing: Sebastian Stan x reader
word count: 3.5k
I’ve been listening to Fearless (Taylor’s Version) too much and this is the result. Thank god this song didn’t come out when I was in middle school.
——————————
The wedding had been lovely. It had been so easy, standing up there in the line of bridesmaids, to forget about everything else and just be happy for your friend. And you were really happy for her. After dating jerks throughout most of high school and college, it seemed like she had finally realized the perfect guy for her had been there all along. Of course, you could have told her that in high school and saved her the trouble. In fact, you had tried. But still, she deserved the best wedding.
So you stood on the edges of the reception and smiled politely. Old high school friends were mixed in with the people you didn’t know. You laughed when someone brought up an old inside joke. You asked the questions you were supposed to ask when catching up with old friends. And for the first hour it seemed like you would be able to get through the night, but of course, he showed up.
“I thought Sebastian wasn’t coming.” The girls glanced at you when Rachel said his name, but you didn’t let yourself react. So far, everyone had been very deliberately not talking about him when you were around.
“He’s not,” the bride responded. “He was supposed to be the best man, but he couldn’t get away. I guess he’s filming or something.”
“Well he just walked in.” You froze, champagne glass midway up to take a sip. Despite your best efforts, your eyes moved towards the door.
Keep reading
omg thanks so much to everyone who’s read this. It’s been sitting in my docs for almost two weeks and I wasn’t going to post it because I didn’t think it was very good but I’m happy people think otherwise. I guess I have to write a sequel (and maybe a prequel??) now
Don’t You
Summary: You’re at a friend’s wedding when you run into your ex Sebastian, who smiles and asks you how you’ve been
Pairing: Sebastian Stan x reader
word count: 3.5k
I’ve been listening to Fearless (Taylor’s Version) too much and this is the result. Thank god this song didn’t come out when I was in middle school.
Prequel: Fearless
Sequel: The Way I Loved You
------------------------------
The wedding had been lovely. It had been so easy, standing up there in the line of bridesmaids, to forget about everything else and just be happy for your friend. And you were really happy for her. After dating jerks throughout most of high school and college, it seemed like she had finally realized the perfect guy for her had been there all along. Of course, you could have told her that in high school and saved her the trouble. In fact, you had tried. But still, she deserved the best wedding.
So you stood on the edges of the reception and smiled politely. Old high school friends were mixed in with the people you didn’t know. You laughed when someone brought up an old inside joke. You asked the questions you were supposed to ask when catching up with old friends. And for the first hour it seemed like you would be able to get through the night, but of course, he showed up.
“I thought Sebastian wasn’t coming.” The girls glanced at you when Rachel said his name, but you didn’t let yourself react. So far, everyone had been very deliberately not talking about him when you were around.
“He’s not,” the bride responded. “He was supposed to be the best man, but he couldn’t get away. I guess he’s filming or something.”
“Well he just walked in.” You froze, champagne glass midway up to take a sip. Despite your best efforts, your eyes moved towards the door.
There was no mistaking him. He looked better than he had when you had last seen him a year ago. The suit he was wearing was one that you had picked out for him. His hair was the length you loved, perfect for running your fingers through. A smile lit up his face as he embraced the groom, his best friend from high school. And then his eyes were meeting yours from across the room. The same beautiful blue they had always been.
You and Sebastian hadn’t been super close in high school. You ran around with the same group of friends. You had gone to a couple school dances together, mainly because you were the only single ones in the friend group. Despite your best efforts, you two had always been more like two people with mutual friends, rather than actual friends.
Nothing changed much after you started college. Your friend group would get together during breaks when everyone was home, and you and Sebastian might exchange a few words. On holidays and birthdays, you would trade texts. He congratulated you when you got into business school. You congratulated him when one of his movies would come out.
As his roles got bigger, you assumed that he would eventually stop responding to your texts or perhaps change his number, but that never happened. You thought for sure that you wouldn’t get a response when you texted him to say congrats for landing a role in the Captain America movie. It wasn’t that you thought he’d turn into a snob. You just kind of assumed that you had never been good enough friends to warrant a response.
So imagine your surprise when you realized the man calling your name as you walked down the street in New York was him. It had been a bit surreal to see him after so many years. Even more surreal were the people, fans of his no doubt, who had taken pictures of the two of you while you were talking.
It had been nice seeing a friendly face. You had only just moved to New York, so the only people you talked to were your coworkers. And apparently Sebastian had enjoyed seeing you too. The next day you had a text from him asking you to dinner. It was silly that you two hadn’t been close in high school. That was what Sebastian decided as the two of you reconnected over the next few weeks. Very silly. That was what you decided after Sebastian asked you to be his girlfriend.
For a moment, neither of you moved. The shock you were feeling now was similar to the shock you had felt when you saw Sebastian that first day in New York, but this one was much less pleasant. Was he thinking the same thing? Then, the groom was pulling Sebastian towards another group, while one of your friends dragged you onto the dance floor.
It seemed as though your friends were taking turns keeping you occupied for the next hour, but you couldn’t stop yourself from staring at Sebastian every chance you got. Eventually, you got away by claiming you needed to use the restroom. Instead of rejoining your friends, you hung back and watched the party. As your eyes scanned the crowd, you caught sight of Sebastian. He was heading right towards you. Your fight or flight response kicked in. It chose flight. You tried to be subtle as you quickly looked for the fastest exit.
“Hey.” Apparently you weren’t quick enough. Sebastian was standing in front of you. Worse, he was reaching out to hug you. The familiar smell of the cologne, the one that you had bought him for his birthday last year, engulfed you. Stiffly, you returned his hug, then took a step back to put more distance between the two of you when he pulled away.
“Hey.”
“I knew I’d run into you somewhere,” he joked. How could he act so normal? Like nothing was wrong. Like he hadn’t broken your heart just a few months ago.
“I just didn’t expect it to be here,” you muttered. Where were your friends? Why weren’t they coming to rescue you?
“That explains the staring.” You felt your face heat up. It wasn’t surprising that he had caught the stares. You hadn’t been subtle. Hopefully, no one else had. How pathetic you must seem. Caught up on your ex instead of enjoying your friend’s wedding reception.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to. I just thought you couldn’t make it.” It was the only reason you had agreed to come. You had a perfect excuse not to. Your boss was a dick and wouldn't give you the time off to fly in from San Francisco. That’s what you were going to tell them, but then they said that Sebastian couldn’t come. The groom couldn’t have his best man, so at least the bride could have her maid of honor.
“I thought so too, but I managed to convince the director to move the shooting schedule around a little bit. I still couldn’t make it to the ceremony, but at least I made the reception.” You wished he hadn’t. “I wasn’t gonna try at all, but Jess convinced me to.”
Jess. His new girlfriend. The one who was nothing like you. All the magazines said so. All of the people on Twitter said she made him happy.
You and your coworkers stared at your phone in confusion. It had been buzzing almost continuously for the past few minutes. At first, you had assumed that it was nothing important and you’d check it out after you and the others had finished discussing your latest project. Now, you all were curious to see how many notifications you were going to get.
“I didn’t realize you were so popular.” Your coworker glanced up at you quickly. “No offense.”
You waved her off. You definitely weren’t this popular. No one at the startup was this popular. Considering that most of the people you knew were either on the East Coast and probably asleep or currently in the office with you, you couldn't imagine who would be trying to contact you. In fact, the last time you had gotten so many notifications at once…
Your heart was in your stomach as you finally reached for your phone. Another notification lit up the screen. A Twitter notification, you realized with dismay. Some idea of what this would be about was forming as you began to unlock your phone.
Suddenly, one of the founders of the startup, the one who had convinced you to join in the first place, came running into the room. His eyes widened when he saw the phone in your hand. “No, Y/N, you don’t want to do that!”
Too late.
You had been tagged in hundreds of Tweets that all linked the same articles. You kept scrolling, but all you could see were pictures of Sebastian. Pictures of Sebastian with his tongue down another woman’s throat.
“Oh my god.” You’re not sure if the words came from you or the coworkers who were gathered around, staring at your phone. Most of them knew that you had dated Sebastian. They had witnessed the mess that you had been post breakup. You clicked on a link to one of the articles.
He had arrived at a club with the mystery woman earlier that night. Shortly thereafter, the pictures of the two getting...close had been posted on Twitter. It seemed that someone had finally been able to figure out the identity of the woman. Jessica Kelley. You didn’t even have to continue reading the article to know that she was a model. She looked exactly like you’d expect a model from LA to look like.
Already, people were drawing comparisons between the two of you.
‘wow it’s only been two months since he and @Y/N broke up and he’s already moved on?’
‘good for him. She seems way better for him than @Y/N. Jess is way prettier’
‘If you all saw @Y/N making out with another guy like this already you’d be calling her a slut. Can’t believe this’
‘@Y/N wishes she looked like Jessica. I always thought she was too ugly for Seb. too boring too.’
‘I’m so happy he dumped that nerd and found someone who actually cares about his career. @Y/N was just bringing him down’
‘He never looked that happy with @Y/N’
‘He looked so much happier with @Y/N. Idc what anyone says, they were goals’
“Stop that.” Your phone was taken from your hand by one of your coworkers. “You don’t need to read all of that.”
“Yeah, you should just delete Twitter. At least for now.” A few of the others also chimed in with words of support, but your mind just kept reminding you and the biggest difference between you and Sebastian’s new woman.
It was past midnight and she was out with Sebastian, while you were still at the office.
“That’s great,” you manage. “Is she here?” Can he tell how much he’s torturing you right now? Does he care? The longer he stands there, looking perfectly at ease, the harder it is to hold back the whirlwind of emotions inside you. As much as you hate him, you’ve missed him.
“No. She wanted to come, but she has a photoshoot in LA.” You nod politely. “You know, it’s kind of crazy. Most of her work is in LA, so I’ve been spending a lot of time there recently. I really miss New York. You must be glad to be back though. I was there two weeks ago, just before filming started, and I went to that coffee shop that you love. The one that’s a few blocks from the apartment. I was kind of surprised I didn’t see you in there.” The apartment. It wasn’t our apartment anymore. It was just his apartment, despite how much time you had put into picking out the color scheme and deciding on which sofa to get and finding plants that he wouldn’t kill.
“It would have been more surprising if I had been there.” The way Sebastian’s head cocked slightly and his brows drew together was painstakingly familiar. It was the same face he made whenever you tried to explain what you did at work. “I’m still in San Francisco. The company has been doing really well there. We decided there was no point in a New York office yet.”
“I thought your plan was to spend a year in San Francisco working on the startup and then move back to New York whether or not they decided to expand. You said you could just find a new job if you needed to.”
“Well that was when I had a reason to move back to New York.” Realization dawned on Sebastian’s face. He glanced away uncomfortably. “I don’t anymore, so I’m still in San Francisco. I haven’t been back to the city since I moved, actually.”
“Home sweet home.” You gestured to the bare apartment. Empty boxes were scattered around the small living room/kitchen. Through the doorway, you could see the bedroom that currently held just a bed and dresser.
“Don’t say that.” Sebastian’s arms wrapped around you and he pulled you into his chest. “Your home is in New York.”
You rolled your eyes at the pout on his face. “Fine. Temporary home sweet temporary home. Better?” Sebastian shook his head. Obviously, he still wasn’t thrilled with your move. “It’s just a year. You’ll be filming most of the time, so we’d be apart anyway. We’ll be home together again soon.”
“I’ll still miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too. We can still facetime and talk like we usually do when you’re gone. Plus, you’re coming back to visit next month, right?”
“I booked the flights and everything,” Sebastian promised, wrapping you up in another hug.
But he had canceled that visit at the last minute. And the next one. And the next one. Your calls and facetimes got shorter and more sporadic once he started filming. Pretty soon, most of your communication was short texts sent whenever you had time.
You had figured that things would get easier once the startup had found its footing and Sebastian settled into filming, but Sebastian seemed to have other ideas.
You had expected the text to be Sebastian cancelling another trip to see you. Instead, he was breaking up with you. The relationship that you had put years into was done after three months apart.
“I am sorry about how everything went down. I just didn’t think that it was working out. I was in New York or off filming. You were in California. We tried for months, but we were both just so busy. We never got to see each other.”
You nodded slowly. “Right. And how has LA been? Since you’ve been spending so much time there with Jess.” At least Sebastian had the decency to look embarrassed. Most people wouldn’t have noticed the anger in your words, but Sebastian knew you well enough to recognize that they were a dagger aimed right at him.
“Do you hate me?” That was a good question. One that threw you for a loop. There were a lot of people online who thought that you had every right to. Sebastian had ended the relationship that you had put years into because he apparently didn’t want to wait out the year that you would be in San Francisco. It was kind of an asshole move. Despite all of that, he was still the guy who you had fallen in love with. He was the guy who had surprised you with backstage passes to your favorite band for your first anniversary. He was the boy who had shyly asked you to homecoming freshman year because all of your friends had dates, and he didn’t want to have to go alone.
“No. I don’t hate you. Sometimes I really wish that I did. I’ve tried a lot, actually, but I can’t.” You don’t know if you’re more surprised by how you answered or by the fact that it’s the truth. Deep down, you had always known that you could never hate him. Standing with him now, it was starting to become easier to see why. You had stood with him on the edge of the crowd at so many parties through the years. It felt so right to be next to him that you could feel your resolve weakening. But you had to stay strong. You had sworn that you wouldn't do this. You wouldn’t be the weak one.
You didn’t reciprocate when Sebastian smiled at you. It was the same shy smile that you had grown used to in high school. “So how are you? How’s San Francisco?”
The smile felt tight on your face. Hopefully it didn’t look as fake as it felt. You tried to make your life seem exciting. In truth, the last year had been a lot of late nights at the office and takeout. Certainly different to how your life with Sebastian had been.
You could see people shooting the two of you glances. Your friends were probably wondering whether or not they needed to save you. At least that meant you didn’t look as pained as you felt. The only thing you could do as Sebastian told you a story about something funny Anthony Mackie had done was nod. When he was done, Sebastian threw his head back to laugh and his hand landed on your arm to steady himself.
You tensed, waiting for him to remove it. Instead, he looked carefully at you for a second before saying quietly, “I’ve missed you. A lot, actually. There have been so many times I’ve picked up my phone and almost called you. I was actually going to call you after Mackie did that, but I always stopped myself.”
He missed you. That should make you feel better. Maybe he was as miserable without you as you were without him. You knew that wasn’t the case though. He didn’t want you again. He had moved on. Now it was time for you to do the same.
You shook off his hand. He tried to reach for you again, another apology or explanation already on his lips, but you held up a hand. “Don’t, Sebastian. You broke up with me, remember? That was your decision. I still don’t understand it really, but it was. That means that you don’t get to smile and ask how I’ve been. Okay? You don’t get to say that you miss me if you don’t want me again.”
“But I do want you in my life. We’ve been friends forever.”
You pressed your hands into your eyes, trying not to get frustrated. It was a wedding. You couldn't make a scene. “You don’t get it, do you?”
“Get what? We were friends before. Why can’t we be friends now?” Sebastian ran a hand through his hair. His tongue darted out to lick his lip. Your heart clenched, reminding you of why you couldn’t be friends.
“You don’t know how much I still love you.” Sebastian’s eyes widened. “Maybe you only needed two months to move on, but I’m not there yet. It’s bad enough seeing pictures of you. I haven’t been able to get on any social media in months because people keep tagging me in stuff about you and your new relationship. Being here right now, talking to you, is killing me. I can’t even imagine how bad it would be if we tried to be friends. I can’t do it. I won’t.”
Without waiting for a response, you turned and began making your way out of the reception, waving off your friends’ looks. You had almost reached the doors when a hand was on your arm, turning you around.
“Y/N, wait. Please, don’t go. We can talk about this. I want to fix this.” Sebastian had his puppy dog eyes out in full effect. You shook your head, smiling sadly. Gently, you took your arm back.
“There’s nothing to fix. So I’m going to walk out of here tonight and try to go on with my life. And if the next time you’re being interviewed someone asks if it was awkward being at a wedding with your ex, then you can say it wasn’t. You can say that we’re still friends and it was nice catching up and you wish me all the best, but I can’t do that. I don’t wanna pretend. I’m not an actor like you. So I’m done with this, and if I see you again, then please...just don’t. Don’t smile at me. Don’t ask me how I’ve been. Don’t say you’ve missed me. I still love you, Sebastian, and I know that you don’t love me anymore and goddamnit why don’t you? That’s what I’ve been wondering for the last seven months. But it doesn’t matter, does it? You’ve moved on, and that’s good for you. But just...don’t.”
There were tears on Sebastian’s cheeks when he nodded. He took a step away from you. There were tears in your eyes as you sent him one last smile. You closed the door behind you.
one of those days (s.r.)
Summary: You’ve had a really awful day. Luckily, your boyfriend always seems to make life better.
Pairing: Steve Rogers x female!reader
word count: 5k
we’re going to ignore civil war and just pretend everyone is a big, happy family in this one
request from @maximeevansblog
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You know those days where everything is going so wrong that you can’t even bother being upset about it anymore? As you stood on the sidewalk, staring at the coffee you had just paid too much money for and then dropped after taking three steps out of the coffee shop, you realized that your day had officially reached that point. It shouldn’t have been surprising that your day would turn out like this. You had started off the morning with a new case. One that was actually going to earn you money this time, which should have made you excited. Except your client was suing the Department of Damage Control, which meant going another round against Tony Stark and his legal team. Somehow, you had become the go-to lawyer for New Yorkers suing the DODC. While you and Tony got along on a personal level, you most certainly did not on a professional level.
You had barely had time to read over the new case before going to a meeting about another case you were working on. It was very obvious to everyone involved that your client didn’t have a very strong case, but having to deal with smarmy corporate lawyers rubbing it in was almost unbearable. Still, you managed to cut a deal that was better than anything your client would get in court, though you thought that they weren’t likely to see it that way. You were right. So that probably should have been the low point of the day.
It wasn’t.
A large bouquet of your least favorite type of flower was sitting at your desk when you got back to your office. Unsurprisingly, a note from Tony was attached, which meant that he had heard about your newest case. Underneath the ugly bouquet were two letters from potential clients asking for your help pro bono. You would take the cases. You always took the pro bono cases, even though you didn’t have the time and could really use the money.
The text was what you thought was going to make you lose it. You had stared at the screen for a minute, wavering between wanting to throw it at the wall and wanting to lay your head down and start crying. Steve was stuck at the compound upstate and wouldn’t be able to make it into the city for date night. He didn’t offer a reason, but he rarely ever did when Avengers things were concerned. There were some things that he didn’t think you needed to know, and you were perfectly fine not knowing them. Still, you had been looking forward to seeing Steve. He had been stuck at the compound for most of the week, and you really missed him. At least he had promised a weekend at the compound, which was the closest thing to a vacation you ever had, to make it up to you.
You and Steve had been dating for a few years now. Though he technically lived at the compound, the two of you basically lived together. Whenever he wasn’t upstate, he was staying in your little Brooklyn apartment. Your friends often teased you that it wasn’t fair that you were the one to snag Captain America when he wasn’t even your favorite Howling Commando. It had been Dum Dum Dugan, but only because eight year old you thought his name was the funniest.
According to Steve, he had known the minute that he saw you, or actually heard you, that he was going to fall in love with you. He hadn’t even opened the door to Tony’s office before he was able to hear you ripping Tony a new one. Perhaps storming into Stark Towers to yell at Tony Stark wasn’t the smartest move, but you were young, it was your first big case, and you were fired up. Plus, the DODC needed to get it together because whatever system they had at that time wasn’t working. You ended up winning the case. Steve had known then and there that he had to know you. And Tony had decided that he needed you on his legal team. Only one of them got their way, and it wasn’t Tony. Not that he wasn’t still trying, you thought, glancing at the ugly flowers again.
It was impossible to be mad at Steve for missing date night because he had superhero responsibilities, but it still bummed you out. You managed to plough through the rest of the afternoon before heading home. As you passed your favorite coffee shop, you thought that you would treat yourself to some caffeine, since you would probably be up late working on the new pro bono cases. Of course, you had dropped the coffee almost immediately, which you took as a sign to just chalk up the day as a loss and head home as quickly as possible before lightning struck you or a tornado swept you up or aliens abducted you.
Morning came too quickly. Though you had gone to sleep earlier than you had anticipated, it was still hard to peel your eyes open. You glared blearily at the clock. It told you that it was still early in the morning, so why were you awake?
The answer came in the form of the creak of your bedroom door. You barely had time to panic about the possibility of an intruder before Steve poked his head in, a smile breaking out on his face at the sight of your sleepy confusion.
“Surprise, honey,” he said quietly.
“What are you doing here?” Despite your confusion, you reached out to him, pulling him onto the bed and snuggling into his chest.
Steve wrapped you up in his arms and settled deeper into the bed. “I felt bad that I had to cancel on date night after you had such a bad day, so I thought I’d surprise you. I’m taking you out and spoiling you today before we head upstate for the weekend.”
“I have work today, Steve,” you protested, though you were too happy to see Steve to really worry about work.
“I’ve already talked to your boss, and he told me that you were taking a half day today. I managed to talk him into giving you the whole day off. One of the perks of being Captain America.”
You hit Steve’s arm lightly. “I don’t know why everyone thinks you're such a golden boy. You’re a bad influence, Rogers.” Steve’s loud laugh caused your heart to soar. You’d stay in bed with Steve all day if you could.
As if he was reading your mind, Steve said, “Why don’t you go back to sleep for a bit? We have a reservation at your favorite brunch place in a few hours. You could get at least another hour of sleep.”
“I won’t argue with you, but you have to stay in bed with me.”
“I like that deal.” Steve kissed the top of your head gently as you snuggled into his side, already drifting back off to sleep.
An hour later, you woke up feeling much more rested. Opening your eyes slowly, you immediately found Steve gazing at you.
“Were you watching me sleep?”
“No.”
“You’re a bad liar, babe.”
“And you’re adorable when you’re sleeping, honey.”
“Ok, Edward Cullen, calm down.” You didn’t really want to get out of bed, but you forced yourself to stand and stretch, leaning down quickly to give Steve a peck on the lips.
“I don’t understand that reference.” It was hard not to laugh at the small pout on Steve’s face as he watched you walk into the bathroom.
“That’s because you refuse to watch Twilight with me. Now, I need to get ready for our day out. You can stay there and pour, or you can take a shower with me.” You didn’t bother waiting to see if Steve would follow you, confident that he was already scrambling out of bed.
After your shower, Steve insisted on picking out an outfit for you while you did your hair and makeup. Once the two of you were ready, you left the apartment and walked down to the restaurant, holding hands the entire time.
It was sometimes a bit strange when you and Steve went out in public. Steve managed to blend in pretty well when he was dressed in casual clothes, but he was occasionally recognized. Many New Yorkers had grown fairly used to seeing Avengers out and about and were content to leave them alone, but tourists were prone to getting over excited and star struck. Luckily, Steve flew under the radar during brunch. You thought that the waiter probably recognized him, but the only sign he gave was charging you for only half of your meal.
As you ate, you caught Steve up on your work, and he told you about some of the stuff the other Avengers had been up to. Bucky was settling into the team well, which you knew was a big relief for Steve. You had only met Bucky a couple times. He wanted to make sure that all of the Hydra brainwashing was gone before you spent much time together, despite both you and Steve trying to tell him that you trusted him.
After brunch, Steve let you drag him into some of your favorite stores. He played the doting boyfriend as you tried on clothes, showering you with compliments and even picking out a few pieces that he thought would look good on you. Despite your protests, he bought you way more than you were planning on getting, and silenced you with kisses when you tried to tell him you didn’t need it all.
You had assumed that you would head back to your apartment to drop it all off and then head up to the compound, but Steve led you into a nail salon on your way home and insisted on paying for you to get your nails done.
“You’re doing way too much, Steve. Honestly, we could have just gone to read in the park and it would have been a perfect day,” you told him. He looked a bit funny sitting on a small chair surrounded by shopping bags.
“I told you that I wanted to spoil you, honey. You work too hard. You deserve a day all about you.” You were about to protest more when your stomach let out a loud growl, causing your face to heat up in embarrassment. Apparently all of that shopping made you work up an appetite. “Wait right there,” Steve laughed as he stood up and made his way out of the nail salon. As if you had much of a choice, considering a woman had just started painting your nails.
The lady had just finished your first hand when the door opened and Steve walked back in, a fast food bag in his hand.
“I got the feeling you were hungry,” he teased as he sat back down next to you. He opened the bag and dug out a couple of fries.
“I’m kind of in the middle of something, babe,” you laughed, nodding your head at your hands that were splayed out on the table.
“That’s why I’m going to feed you,” Steve said as if it was obvious. He held the fries up to your mouth. You shook your head in amusement, but you ate the fries anyway. You knew that you were incredibly lucky to have a boyfriend like Steve, who was willing to sit and feed you fries and chicken nuggets as you got your nails done.
“You’re the best. You know that right?”
“Are you just saying that because I got you food?”
“No. I’m saying it because I love you.”
Steve’s smile spread shyly across his face. “I love you too.”
The two of you had finished the food by the time your nails were done. Steve once again took up all of your shopping bags, and the two of you walked back to your apartment. You packed quickly, eager to leave. To your delight, Steve had ridden his motorcycle into the city rather than taking a car, so you got to press yourself into his back as the two of you rode up to the compound. You loved riding the motorcycle with Steve. It was often too windy and loud to really talk, so you got to enjoy each other’s presence in silence.
“Where is everyone?” you asked when you got to the compound. Normally, you ran into at least one other person on your way to Steve’s room, but it was like a ghost town.
Steve shrugged. “Maybe they’re out. Or training. I think most people should be here this weekend though. They’re all looking forward to seeing you.”
At the beginning of your relationship, you had been nervous about meeting all of the Avengers. Your worth had been needless, though, as all of the Avengers had been happy to meet the mystery girl who was helping Captain America settle into the 21st century. Now, you could comfortably say that many of the superheroes were some of your best friends.
“Weird,” you muttered, but you weren’t really too concerned. They all had their own lives, so you couldn’t really expect them to be sitting around waiting for you all the time.
You didn’t have much time to dwell on it. Steve had decided that the two of you were making your favorite dinner, though you didn’t really do much. You sat on the counter and watched as Steve cooked. Music from the 40s floated gently through the room. You knew from Steve’s slightly wistful smile that he was remembering his old life. It broke your heart a little bit whenever he got quiet like that. You could never understand what he went through, but you hoped that you helped make it more bearable for him.
“What are you thinking about?” Steve’s voice broke through your thoughts and made you realize that you had been staring at him.
“You,” you answered simply.
“Me? I’m flattered.”
“Do you miss it? How your life used to be?” It was a subject you tended to skirt around because you were afraid of the answer.
Steve was silent for a minute, his face introspective. “I used to wonder what my life would have been like if I hadn’t been frozen. Or if I hadn’t been picked for the serum at all, I guess. Now, I don’t think there’s any point in that. I can’t change what happened. I don’t think I would even if I could. I have everything I could ever need here.” Steve took your hands, rubbing his thumbs over your knuckles gently.
“There’s nothing you miss? The food? The clothes? The dancing?”
“Food is much better in this century. We used to boil everything. And we can still dance now just fine, honey.” To prove his point, he stepped back and dragged you off the counter. He pulled you against him, and the two of you swayed gently. You weren’t sure how many songs you danced to before the oven timer went off. Steve wrapped up in a hug and kissed you deeply before pulling away to get the food.
Dinner was delicious. Steve’s cooking had made great strides the last few years. You insisted on clearing the table while he got dessert ready. The two of you sat and chatted as you ate your dessert. At one point, Steve laughed so hard at something you said that he knocked his fork off the table. Shaking your head fondly, you bent down to pick it up.
When you sat back up, you were confused to find that Steve wasn’t in his chair across from you. Instead, he was kneeling on the ground next to you. You gasped, your hands flying up to cover your mouth, when you saw the small box in his hands.
“Y/N, you are the most amazing person I have ever met. I was a man lost in time before I met you. You’re my home. You’re the love of my life, and I hope that you’ll let me spend the rest of my life with you. Y/N, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” you laughed, tears falling down your face. “Yes! Yes, of course, Steve.” He took your hand and gently slid the ring onto your finger. He had barely finished before you were throwing yourself into his arms.
“I was so nervous,” Steve admitted. His voice was muffled slightly because his face was buried in your neck. “I’ve been trying to decide how to do this for so long. Tony offered to book a private island, but I thought that might be a bit much.”
“Just a bit,” you agreed. You pulled back slightly to kiss him. Your hand shook slightly as you held it out to look at the ring. “It’s gorgeous, Steve.”
“It was my mom’s.” Your head snapped up quickly, your eyes once again filling with tears. You hadn’t known that Steve had anything from his family. “Howard and Peggy managed to keep some of my stuff. I guess they never stopped hoping I’d come back.”
“I’m glad they did.” You leaned in again, letting yourself get lost in the kiss. “I love you, Steve.”
“I love you too. Now you have to win your next case so you can pay for the wedding. Unless you want Tony to pay.”
“I can’t even imagine what that wedding would be like,” you groaned. “You might need to get a real job.”
Lucky for Steve, it didn’t come to that. You won your next case. And the one after that. And the one after that. In fact, your career was on a high leading up to your wedding. Not that you needed much money for the wedding. It was a small affair, only close friends invited since neither of you had any family. On Steve’s side were all of the Avengers and their friends. On your side were your friends from school and some of your coworkers, all of whom looked a bit overwhelmed to be in the presence of so many superheroes. You and Steve decided to have the wedding at the compound so that you wouldn’t have to worry about security or paparazzi or anything like that.
“I’m nervous,” you groaned for the hundredth time that morning. “Why am I so nervous? I feel like I’m going to be sick.”
“You better not be sick. You just got your makeup done,” Nat pointed out dryly.
“And you need to get in your dress soon so you’re not late to your own wedding,” Wanda added.
You and Steve had agreed on having small wedding parties, so Nat and Wanda were your only two bridesmaids, while Bucky and Sam were Steve’s groomsmen. You opened your mouth to respond, but quickly clamped your lips together and rushed over to the toilet, making it just in time to avoid making a mess on the floor. Fortunately, Wanda was able to use her powers to hold your hair back.
“Are you sure nerves aren’t the only reason you’re feeling sick?” Nat asked as you sat back. “I noticed that you didn’t have anything to drink at your bachelorette party.”
Wanda’s eyes grew almost comically wide. “Oh my gosh, Y/N! Are you pregnant?”
Your mind whirled as you tried to come up with a way to spin this, but you realized it was pointless. “You can’t tell Steve.”
“He doesn’t know?” Nat asked. You felt it was a bit hypocritical of her to be judging you for keeping a secret when she was an actual spy, but you decided to let that slide.
“I didn’t want to tell him until I was sure and then he was so stressed about making sure the wedding was perfect. I didn’t want to make him more stressed.”
“This is amazing, Y/N,” Wanda squealed, wrapping you in a hug. After a second, you felt Nat’s arms circle around you too. “Now let’s go get you married.”
Any nerves that you had melted away when you saw Steve standing at the end of the aisle. His eyes filled with tears immediately when he saw you, causing you to become misty eyed too. You tried to hold the tears back, knowing Nat and Wanda would kill you if you ruined your makeup so quickly. However, you lost that battle once Steve started to say his vows, his voice breaking with emotion.
Most of the non-Avengers guests left after staying at the reception for a couple of hours because they didn’t want to be driving back into the city late. Once they were all gone, Sam started urging you and Steve to start opening up your presents. Eventually, you had to give in.
“Let’s see whose gifts are lame,” Sam cheered as everyone took a seat. The first gift that Sam declared lame was from Scott, who claimed that he had shrunk your gift to make transporting it from San Francisco easier and then lost it somewhere in his room.
“Cmon, small fry! Just admit that you didn’t buy anything,” Sam teased. Scott tried to defend himself, but soon everyone was piling on. You had to move on to the next present to put him out of his misery. Most of the others had given you things you mentioned needing for the bigger apartment you hoped to get soon. Even before you knew you were pregnant, you and Steve had decided that it might be time to upgrade from your small, one bedroom apartment.
Peter was a bit embarrassed by his gift. He couldn’t exactly afford to buy anything fancy. He was a high school student after all. Instead, he had made some sort of toaster, microwave, air fryer hybrid that he assured you didn’t explode...anymore. You weren’t sure how confident you were in that, but you acted thrilled anyways.
Vision bought you what he assured you was the safest baby essentials. You almost choked on your water when Steve opened the box for the crib, which Vision told you he would put together. Everyone else was too busy laughing to notice the panicked looks you, Nat, and Wanda shared. There were a lot of jokes about how Vision must be eager for some kids running around the compound, but he didn’t seem to understand why everyone was laughing. You were sure that he had somehow used his super robot brain to figure out that you were pregnant, but apparently he hadn’t mentioned it to anyone else.
Tony insisted on going last, of course. His gift was a world class realtor showing you some of the best apartments in New York, which Tony insisted he would pay for. Steve tried to refuse, but you stopped him.
“We’ll think about it,” you said. Steve looked at you in surprise. Since the Avengers didn’t get paid, Steve usually had to rely on Tony’s money, but you were the one who was always insisting on paying for things yourself.
“We will?”
You shrugged. “There’s no way we’ll get a fancy penthouse or anything, but we could use a good realtor. And let’s face it, Tony will find a way to end up paying for most of it anyways.” You knew that your family would no doubt spend a lot of time at the compound, but you wanted a nice place in the city where your kids could go and be normal kids. If accepting Tony’s help was what it took to ensure that your family would have a nice place to live, you were willing to live with that. Plus, not having to worry about rent would allow you to take more pro bono work.
Everyone sat around chatting for a while after the presents were done. Steve had you tucked into his side as the two of you lounged on a couch and watched your friends.
“You wanna get out of here?” Steve whispered in your ear.
“I’ll have to ask my husband if that’s okay,” you teased, enjoying the chuckle you got out of Steve.
“I think he’ll be fine with it. Not that you ever listen to anything he says.” Steve stood, pulling you up with him. Your face burned when everyone started cheering the two of you on, but Steve just laughed and waved goodnight to them. The two of you walked through the compound to Steve’s room in comfortable silence. Tomorrow, you would head out for your honeymoon, so you were enjoying your last peaceful moments at home.
“Do you actually think we need Tony’s realtor?” Steve asked suddenly. “I thought you liked that place we saw the other week.”
“Are you trying to start our first marital fight?” you joked, trying to get Steve to drop it. There was no way to explain why you were second guessing the place you and Steve had both liked without explaining that it wasn’t as child-friendly as you would like.
“I’m serious, honey. What made you change your mind?”
“I don’t know. I guess I was just thinking about how a third floor walkup could make some things difficult. And that place isn’t that much bigger than where I live now. There are also much better neighborhoods. Maybe we could look for somewhere closer to a park with a few bedrooms in a building with an elevator.”
“A few bedrooms? Sounds like you're describing a mansion. This is the city we’re talking about.”
“I’m not asking for a penthouse or a townhouse or anything. Just something that isn’t very cramped.” You tried to pull away from Steve, but he wrapped you up in a big hug.
“Ok, ok, I’m sorry. I just want to know what made you change your mind so much. I thought you said the third floor walkup would ensure we both stay in shape.”
You chewed on your lip thoughtfully, which made Steve know immediately that you were considering something important. Instead of answering, you grabbed Steve’s hand and pulled him down the hallway and into his room. Once you shut the door, you turned to face him. He was alarmed slightly by the nervousness in your eyes. You and Steve hadn’t talked seriously about kids. You both wanted some, but it seemed like both of you thought about them in terms of the future, not right after getting married.
“I’m pregnant,” you said finally.
“What?” Steve had heard you perfectly, even though you had barely whispered it. Perks of being a super soldier. It looked like his brain was short circuiting, though.
“I’m pregnant,” you said again, louder this time. Slowly, you put your hands around Steve’s waist. “Steve? Babe, talk to me. Where’s your head at? I know we weren’t expecting to have kids so soon but-”
“This is amazing,” Steve breathed. He picked you up and spun you around. “Oh my gosh! This is amazing.” He gently set you back on your feet, then kneeled to kiss your stomach. “How long have you known? Does anyone else know?”
“I’ve only known for sure for about a week, but I was suspicious. Nat and Wanda know. And Vision, apparently.”
“That explains the crib,” Steve laughed breathlessly. He hugged you again.
“That explains the crib,” you agreed.
“And the apartment. Honey, I don’t care how much money Tony has to spend. Your kid is going to have the best place in all of New York City.”
“It doesn’t have to be the best. It just has to be home. And just so you know, you’re not allowed to miss the birth because you’re on a mission. You’re taking paternity leave as soon as I’m close to popping.” Steve laughed and agreed before picking you up and carrying you towards the bed.
Steve shouldn’t have been surprised by the text. Of course you would go into labor while he was across the country. You weren’t due for another three weeks, so you and Steve had both thought it would be safe for him to go on one last mission. It had been a quick one, luckily, so he had a chance to get there before you actually gave birth.
A few people gave him strange looks as he ran through the halls of the hospital, almost sliding past your room because he was going so fast. Though the looks might have been because he was still wearing his Captain America uniform.
You couldn’t help but laugh when you saw him stumble into the room. He seemed uninjured, which meant the mission was a success in your books. He was breathing heavily, not you knew it wasn’t from the running. Another perk of being a super soldier. Steve Rogers, who had fought actual aliens, was nervous.
“Thank god I made it,” he gasped, rushing over to grab your hand. “We broke about every speed limit on the way over. Sam thought I should just jump out of the plane and into the roof of the hospital, but I thought that might be a bit much.”
“Just a bit,” you agreed before being overtaken by another contraction. You squeezed Steve’s hand as your eyes screwed shut. “You made it just in time. I’m about to start pushing. I was going to ask them to go find a hot doctor to hold my hand.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Steve laughed, but he did grip your hand tighter. You smiled brightly at him. Despite what you said, it was such a relief to you that he had made it. Your smile faded when the doctor told you to push. This was the part you hadn’t been looking forward to.
Steve was on the edge of his seat next to you. He hated that there was nothing he could do to really make it easier, but he held your hand and reminded you to breathe.
Finally, you were able to collapse back into the pillows. You and Steve watched in amazement as the doctor placed the tiny, crying body in your arms.
“It’s a girl,” Steve breathed.
“It’s a girl,” you agreed. “And she’s perfect.”
“Yeah she is.” You turned to smile at Steve and realized that his eyes were already on you. He leaned in to gently press a kiss on your lips before bending down to press another on your daughter’s head.
You couldn’t help the tears of joy that ran down your face. You had the two most important people in the world with you now. You couldn’t ask for your life to be any more perfect.
coming home // b.b
Summary: your best friend decides to take a leap of faith and make the most of your last night together before he’s shipped off in the morning
Pairing: 40s!bucky & fem!reader
Requested: no
Warning: 18+ minors dni, unrequited feelings, awkward love triangle, smut, porn with plot, loss of virginity, oral (f receiving), unprotected sex
Word Count: 7,717
masterlist
His hands hadn’t stopped shaking all morning.
As soon as he’d received the news, it felt like the air had been knocked out of him.
He knew it was going to happen some day, he just didn’t think it’d be so soon.
He’d spent hours getting everything ready for his departure. He packed his bags and picked up his uniform from the tailor. As he made his way through town, all he could think about was you.
He had no idea what he was going to say.
There were a lot of people that would miss him come tomorrow morning, but the person he’d miss most was you.
The thought didn’t linger long. Before he could think of another way to word the sentence that was going to absolutely destroy him, he noticed Steve taking a beating across the alleyway.
As he quickly made his way over to his friend, he knew he’d miss the days that he was around to protect him and wondered, who would look out for him once he was gone?
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Star Star Tours
Summary: You and Sebastian have been dating for a while now, but the public doesn’t know that yet. Keeping your secret causes some tension on James Corden’s Star Star Tours.
Pairing: Sebastian Stan x actress!reader
This is my first time writing for Marvel, so I hope people enjoy! It’s just something that I wrote really quick, but I love the bus tour video, and I thought this could be a cute story. Also, Sebastian was not in nearly enough of the disposable camera pictures.
It was no secret that press tours could be draining. Being stuck in a room for multiple days while people keep asking you the same questions over and over again even though they know that you can’t really answer them. And considering how big Infinity War is, it was no surprise that there were even more interviews than usual.
That was why you had been so excited when you had heard about James Corden’s bus tour. Getting to spend the day outside, surrounded by some of your costars, sounded like a vacation compared to being stuck in a chair all day. There was no doubt in your mind that it would be chaos. Of course, you would do you best to add to that chaos.
Still, as you glanced over at your boyfriend, you thought that maybe press tours weren’t all that bad. You and Sebastian had met while filming Civil War, but you hadn’t really talked much. Sebastian was pretty quiet, and you had worried that he found your loudness annoying, so you had focused on befriending your costars who seemed more receptive to your large personality.
It wasn’t until the press tour that you actually got to know Sebastian. You weren’t sure if you had been partnered with Sebastian and Anthony because someone thought Anthony might ease your nerves about your first Marvel press tour or if they hoped being stuck with two people as outgoing as you and Anthony might force Sebastian out of his shell. Either way, the three of you had been a hit that press tour. More importantly, Sebastian had asked you out shortly after Civil War premiered.
The two of you had been dating ever since. It had made interviews a bit difficult for both of you though. You had decided to keep your relationship private. In theory, you were going to go public after a few months, but the two of you had enjoyed having a part of your lives that was actually private. It was a surprise that no one had let it slip, considering both Tom Holland and Mark Ruffalo knew about the relationship. Still, it was hard ignoring dating rumors every time someone thought you must be with whatever costar you had smiled at that week.
“What are you thinking about?” Sebastian asked, glancing at you before looking back the road. He took one hand off the wheel and grabbed your hand, entwining your fingers.
“Nothing.” You knew that Sebastian wouldn’t buy it. Not when he had seen your goofy grin.
“Nothing? Wanna try again?”
“What if we went to the premiere together?” You kept your eyes on your hand, still entwined with Sebastian’s.
“Like together together?” Sebastian took his hand back so he could turn into the parking lot of the studio. You tried not to notice the slight frown that he wore as he thought about your idea.
“We don’t have to. It’s just that it’s been almost two years. I thought it could be a good time. Maybe everyone will be so focused on the movie that we wouldn’t be big news.” Sebastian didn’t answer as he parked. You could already see a producer rushing over to the car, no doubt to get your ready for the tour. “You don’t have to answer now. Let’s just enjoy the tour and we can talk about it later.”
Sebastian nodded in agreement and the two of you climbed out of the car and made your way over towards the bus.
After you got your mic and everything, you climbed up to the top of the bus, where James gave you a name tag after doing a little bit. Immediately, you rushed to the front row and took the seat next to Lizzie. The two of you had clicked immediately while filming Civil War, and she had been one of your best friends ever since.
You noticed that Sebastian waited for a few more people to get on before he climbed on and took a seat at the back next to Winston. You tried not to read too much into the fact that he was sitting as far away from you as possible. It was possible, probable even, that he was keeping his distance just so neither of you slipped up on camera. It was a tactic you used quite often. But it was also possible that you had freaked him out when you proposed going public and now he was going to avoid you.
Shaking off the doubts in your head, you picked up the disposable camera that you had been given and started snapping pictures as everyone settled in. To your relief, Sebastian gave you a smile and a small wave when you pointed the camera at Paul and Letitia, catching him in the background. Before it could descend into total chaos, the bus began moving and the tour started.
You and Lizzie almost died laughing when Benedict had to put sunscreen on James’s legs, but he had a point. “Does anyone need face sunscreen?” you asked, waving the bottle of face sunscreen that you had thrown in your purse at the last minute. Very pointedly, you turned to Benedict and Hiddleston. “I’m looking at you two.”
“We get it, Y/N,” Anthony yelled from the back. “You’re a mom friend.” You stuck your tongue out in reply, mainly because flipping him off didn’t seem very TV friendly. Nevertheless, your sunscreen got passed around the bus. Paul tried to give it back to you without putting any on, claiming that he didn’t need any, which resulted in you and Lizzie basically wrestling him and putting it on his face yourselves. The laugh died in your throat as you began turning back to the front and caught sight of Sebastian’s grumpy face. You raised your eyebrows, but he looked away.
“What’s up with him?” Lizzie asked quietly. Apparently she had seen his expression too. You could only hope that no camera had caught it.
“Tell you later.” You tapped slightly on your mic and Lizzie nodded.
Luckily James began the tour before you could dwell on it any more. Between Don’s exaggerated pose when he took a picture of the coffee shop, getting into trouble with James for being “disruptive,” and the singalong, which you got way too into, you had almost forgotten about Sebastian’s stormy expression.
“This is actually Barbara Streisand’s holiday home,” James said, pointing at some strange, red building. “She actually designed it herself.”
“Is that true, Josh?” you called, spinning around so you could face him.
Josh shook his head. “Absolutely not.”
“Well what do you know? You’re just the bad guy. You’re just trying to cause trouble,” James complained.
“She’s his stepmom, so I think I trust him a bit more than you, James. Sorry.” You shrugged innocently at him before turning back around the air high five Josh. Again, as you were turning back to the front, you caught Sebastian’s eye. He was basically glaring at you.
“What?” you mouthed at him, which of course everyone behind you saw, causing them to turn to look at Sebastian too.
“Y/N, I am trying to give a tour, and you are being disruptive once again. I need eyes up front please.”
“But James,” you whined, huffing in your seat like a little kid, “Sebastian keeps looking at me. Tell him to stop.”
“Sebastian, I need all eyes on me, please. I am the reason you all paid to be here-”
“We have to pay for this?” Hiddleston asked, but James continued as if he hadn’t said anything.
“-so I need you to stop looking at Y/N and pay attention to me.”
“I didn’t even look at her. What am I not allowed to look around now?” Sebastian answered a bit too hotly. There was a brief moment where you could feel everyone look between the two of you, even James and Reggie, who had no idea why it was so strange that Sebastian had snapped like that.
“Geez, Mackie, control your man,” you joked, trying desperately to diffuse the tension.
“No way. Sebastian is not my man. He’s sitting with Winston, so he’s Winston’s problem today,” Mackie yelled back. Luckily, this caused Winston and Anthony to start bickering about who had to take care of Sebastian during the tour. Sebastian, of course, hated the attention and eventually agreed to behave and even gave you a very child-like “Sorry, Y/N.” You stuck your tongue out in response and turned back to give James your full attention.
You all continued the act of disconnected celebrities as James explained what waiting in line was. Hoping to get a better view of the “normal people,” you tried to stand on your chair like you were ogling some animal at the zoo, but almost immediately at least five different people were yelling at you to get down. Apparently it “wasn’t safe” to stand on top of chairs on top of a moving bus.
“Excuse me. I don’t mean to interrupt, but I have to use the bathroom. Can I use the bathroom?” You didn’t turn around this time, worried about seeing Sebastian staring at you again. Instead, you focused on the faux apologetic look on James’s face.
“I’m really sorry. The problem is that the rules on the tour is that you have to have appeared in three or more Marvel movies to use the bathroom. End credits scenes don’t count. Y/N, do you have to use the bathroom?”
“I haven’t been in three movies,” you pointed out.
“That’s right, you haven’t. So I hope you don’t have to use the bathroom. Tom Hiddleston, do you need to use the bathroom?”
“I’m actually okay.”
“Oh, so sorry Y/N. Sorry Josh. Maybe you should ask your stepmom Barbra Streisand if you can use the bathroom at her holiday home.”
“I don’t even have to go,” you protested as Lizzie died laughing next to you.
“Well that’s good because you can’t. Now, does anyone die in the next Avengers?”
The bus was quiet as you all looked at each other. Finally, Paul yelled, “Snitches end up in ditches!”
“I thought they got stitches first,” you whispered to Lizzie.
“Apparently Paul is skipping that part,” she replied. The two of you gave each other a look before dissolving into giggles at the thought of Paul actually throwing someone in a ditch.
The tour continued with more of James’s jokes before he had the bus pull over at a comic shop. A part of you was nervous to go inside. While most of the fans that you had met were nice, you knew that there were still a lot of comic fans who didn’t like your character, or how you played your character, or that you had been cast, or whatever. You gave Lizzie’s hand a nervous squeeze, which she returned, but really you wanted to be holding Sebastian’s hand. You were each other’s biggest supporter. Whenever one of you was feeling nervous, the other was normally right there to offer support.
But instead, you walked in separately.
Luckily, everyone seemed too starstruck to gripe about anything. It ended up being a pretty nice time. You signed some comics and chatted to some fans. One girl even told you about a tattoo dedicated to your character that she was going to get. You almost had a heart attack when she asked you to write down her favorite line of yours, so that she could add that to the tattoo. Afterwards, Mackie had teased you about how much your hand was shaking when you were writing it. It looked like Sebastian was about to say something, but then a camera was suddenly in your face and he disappeared to the other side of the store.
After buying a couple of comics for yourself, you and Lizzie found yourselves in the corner of the store playing with a Scarlet Witch doll that you had bought for her. You didn’t notice when she looked up with a small frown on her face, but you did feel the hand that came to rest on your waist. You looked around quickly, making sure that no cameras were on you, before meeting Sebastian’s eyes.
“What are you doing, Seb?” you whispered. Without you realizing, Lizzie snuck away to give the two of you some privacy. Or as much privacy as you can get when you’re wearing a mic and possibly being filmed.
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry about earlier. I guess I just got kind of jealous and I snapped a little.”
“Jealous?” You put your hand on Sebastian’s arm to keep him in place when you felt him begin to back away. “Jealous about what, Sebastian?”
“I don’t know.” He waved his hand around a bit at the rest of the group. “Just seeing your hands all over Paul and joking around with everyone around you.”
“Lizzie and I were forcibly putting sunscreen on Paul. I did that to you before we left the house this morning. I don’t think you have anything to be jealous about.” You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at him.
“Sometimes it just feels like you always have everyone’s attention and you’re joking around with all of them and you never pay attention to me.” You pressed your lips together to keep from laughing at the adorable pout on Sebastian’s face. “And I know that we kind of have to ignore each other sometimes because we don’t want people to know about us, but I just always wish that I could be joking around with you too. I have so much fun talking to you and being around you, and seeing other people having fun around you when I can’t is just annoying sometimes. It’s like I always want to be right next to you.”
You placed a gentle hand on Sebastian’s cheek, making him meet your eyes. “I always want to be next to you too. And most of the time when I’m joking around with other people, I’m wishing that you were there too. But right now, we should get back to the others. It’ll be a miracle if we haven’t been caught on camera.”
“Oh I asked Anthony to make sure that no one would be paying attention to this side of the store.”
“Is that why he’s been yelling for the past few minutes?”
“He’s the best choice for a distraction, unfortunately.” You grinned at Sebastian as you wrapped your arms around him. Smiling back, he planted a quick kiss on your forehead.
“That’s way too bold,” you scolded him. Still, you couldn’t help but laugh. “There’s no way we would be able to explain that away if anyone saw. Way too many questions.”
You began to walk away, but Sebastian pulled you back to him. “Let them ask questions. The premiere is soon and they’ll have their answers then.”
“Oh they will?” You raised your eyebrows in mock confusion.
“Of course. When we go together. How does that sound?”
“Sounds like a date.” The two of you smiled at each other and were about to lean in for a kiss when Anthony was suddenly pulling Sebastian away.
“Break it up, lovebirds. I thought I was providing a distraction so you two could make up, not so you could make out. Now come on, Sebastian. We need to take a picture with that Spiderman statue outside.”
Sebastian gave you a shrug as Anthony dragged him outside. You rolled your eyes at their antics, then followed the rest of the cast as they began to make their way outside and back to the bus. You had stopped to admire Benedict’s drawing skills when Lizzie was suddenly clutching your arm and squealing. She, of course, had seen everything, though she assured you that everyone had tried their best to be as entertaining as possible on the other side of the store, so that no cameras would be on you.
You wore a smile for the rest of the tour. Lizzie kept teasing you every time you and Sebastian would sneak glances at each other. Not that you could really sneak glances when you had to turn around constantly to look at him. Once again, you got way too into the singalong. This time, Sebastian yelled encouragement at you as you sang off key.
By the time you reached the studio again, you had decided that this was really the best way to do a press tour. You waved goodbye to James and Hemsworth and you climbed off the bus. Before you could take more than a few steps, Sebastian had picked you up and was spinning you around.
“How have you two not spilled the beans yet?” Paul asked as everyone watched in amusement.
“You weren’t even being subtle at the comic shop,” Benedict pointed out.
“Y’all are lucky that the cameras love me so much that they weren’t looking at you,” Mackie joked.
Apparently, the cameras didn’t love Mackie as much as he thought. When the video came out, some eagle eyed fans spotted the two of you looking cozy in the background of a shot. Some people argued that it was impossible to say for certain that it was you and Sebastian, but your Twitter and Instagram notifications were full of people asking if you and Sebastian were dating.
The two of you decided to ignore the questions. Lucky for you, Marvel made it very clear to all of the interviewers that there should be no questions about anyone’s personal lives. All focus was to be on the movie. So you kept the fans guessing until the two of you showed up to the premiere arm in arm.
Unfortunately, there were plenty of people more focused on your relationship than on the movie, so there were plenty of articles about the two of you. Apparently, you were Marvel’s new power couple. As long as you had Sebastian, that was a title you could live with.
SPIDER | BUCKY BARNES x READER | PART SEVEN
CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER.
PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE | PART SIX
Summary: Bucky doesn’t know what to make of you when he meets you. You’re friends with Sharon, and you seem pretty easy to read on the surface. But the more time he spends with you, the more he seems to uncover, and the more he becomes tangled in the web you unwittingly weave. Pairing: female!Reader x Bucky Barnes Fandom: Marvel / The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Word Count: 3,289 Warnings: SPOILERS FOR THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER. A/N: Did anyone say domestic Bucky x reader? Because that’s what this part is… with some good ol’ angst sprinkled on top. We’re finally into Episode 5 now, which has a lot of juicy potential, and now that the finale has aired too I’ve been able to plot out the rest of the story so now that’s a weight off. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this part! Please let me know if you do!
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The Illusion (pt 4)
Summary: The BAU is officially on the case, the outcome of which will probably decide the reader’s future with the FBI. The reader begins to realize that there’s more going on with this case than she thought and she can’t share with her team just yet.
Pairing: Spencer Reid x UA!Reader
Warnings: Umbrella Academy spoilers
Word count: 6.4k
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You couldn’t help but roll your eyes as you entered the department store. Already, local officers were wandering around contaminating the crime scene. You had hoped that your team would beat you here, so you wouldn’t have to order the locals around. It always made you feel a little weird, especially when no one else from your team was at the scene.
After setting up a room at the station for your team, Hotch had called and told you to head over to the department store, where Morgan and Prentiss would meet you. You had a feeling that he was trying to stay away from you. You had questions about why you had gone from desk duty to being required to be in the field in less than 24 hours. Chances are Hotch didn’t have any answers, but he would have ideas. Ideas that it seemed he didn’t want to share with you.
“All right,” you called, making sure that you could be heard easily over all of the low chatter. Immediately, curious eyes were on you, wondering who the new woman was. You made yourself continue standing tall under their gaze. Luckily, you hadn’t changed since leaving Quantico, so you were still dressed professionally. Unfortunately, you hadn’t changed since leaving Quantico over 12 hours ago, and you probably looked a little worse for the wear. “I’m Agent Y/L/N with the FBI. Crime scene techs can keep taking pictures, but I need everyone else to get out. Carefully, please, so we don’t contaminate the crime scene any more.”
You could see some officers muttering amongst themselves. They were being a little slow to follow your orders. It was pushback that you were used to getting. Local officers often didn’t love the FBI showing up and telling them how to do their job. But it just so happened that in some cases they were doing their job wrong.
You were about to repeat your order when a loud voice behind you yelled, “You heard the agent. Get to it and get out.”
You allowed yourself a small smile as you turned to find Derek and Emily walking into the store. It was possibly that you had never been so relieved to hear Derek yelling before.
“You know, if you were going to drag us back here, you could have at least warned us. Imagine how much time we could have saved if we weren’t flying back and forth.” You rolled your eyes at Derek’s teasing, but a weight lifted off your chest at his words. At least for now, Derek was going to act like everything was normal. And if Derek was willing to ignore the whole super hero thing, chances were everyone else was too.
“Hey, I had no part in picking this case.”
“Oh, so you didn’t give the detective Hotch’s card and tell her to call if she wanted out help?” The heavy sarcasm in Emily’s voice made you grin, but you didn’t get a chance to answer before Detective Patch approached your group. She quickly shook hands with Derek and Emily.
“Detective Patch. Was all of that really necessary?”
“All of what?” Emily asked carefully. While it was usual to get some resistance from most of the local officers, the person who called the team in to help was usually pretty helpful, if not friendly. You weren’t surprised by Patch’s less than friendly demeanor. She struck you as a person who liked doing her job well on her own.
“That little display of power.” She gestured to the now mostly empty department store. Crime scene techs were still taking pictures, but the rest of the officers had cleared out.
“Detective, that was to make sure that no crucial piece of evidence gets destroyed because too many officers are stumbling around the crime scene.” Morgan raised his brows at Patch as he spoke. “We don’t play power games with officers that we’re supposed to be working with. We hope your guys will do the same. So, what do we have here?”
“Got a report of shots fired. So far, we don’t have anyone who’s seen anything. I’m not sure if this is even connected to the donut shop shootings, but I figured I’d check it out.”
“You were at another crime scene when you got the report of the shot here, right?” Patch shot you a look you couldn’t quite decipher. You could tell she was dying to ask why you were here.
“Yeah. I went by to question the tow truck driver from the donut shop, but he was dead when I got there.” For a moment, Patch looked tired and maybe a bit frazzled. This case was turning into more and more of a mystery. It was already stranger than most cases in the city were.
“Rossi and Reid are heading to that scene,” Derek told you. You tried to ignore the butterflies in your stomach at the mention of Reid’s name. You had to focus on the crime scene in front of you.
“I guess you should have listened to me earlier.” You and Patch both rolled your eyes at the voice coming from a few rows over. Derek and Emily, on the other hand, were immediately alert, quickly following the voice. Diego knelt on the ground, inspecting a bullet. Derek and Emily both looked over his leather outfit critically.
“I’m sorry. You are?”
Diego looked up at Derek. “You don’t recognize me? You crashed my father’s memorial. Got to see a pretty good show. I would’ve thought it’d be hard to forget.”
“But what are you doing here?”
“And do you seriously still not understand the chain of custody? If you touch it, I can’t use it.”
“Let me save you some time running ballistics,” Diego started like Morgan and Patch hadn’t said anything. “These nine millimeters haven’t been manufactured since-”
“1963. Odd. I know.” You tried not to smile at the exasperation in Patch’s voice, but it was nice finally having someone else be more over Diego than you usually were.
“They match the casings at the other scene?” Morgan asked. He took the bullet from Diego. “And, unless you’re a detective, you need to get out of here.”
“Y/N said I could be a consultant.” You started shaking your head before Diego had even finished his sentence. He tried to sling his arm around your shoulders, but you promptly pushed him away.
“I never said that.”
Diego ignored you. “What other scene?” He looked at Patch for the answer, most likely figuring that she was more likely to give him information than Morgan or Prentiss were.
“Ishmael’s Towing. The driver from the donut shop. I found him hanging from the ceiling.” Patch sighed. “I guess he must have known something after all.”
“Told you.” Diego sang.
Patch turned to look at your teammates. “There are other agents there, right?”
“That’s right. Between Rossi and Reid, hopefully they can find something useful.”
“I’m sure by now Pretty Boy has already read through any and all paperwork there. Maybe we’ll be lucky and he kept detailed accounts. Maybe a planner.”
“How did they get stuck going there?” You tried hard to keep your voice level. “I can’t imagine Rossi would be happy going to a garage when it smells like burnt flesh.”
Derek laughed, shaking his head slightly. “Well it wasn’t his idea. He and Reid were supposed to meet you here, but Reid kept telling Prentiss and I that it wouldn’t be so bad at the garage. Smell is the weakest sense, so we’d be able to ignore the scent after a few minutes. Hotch told him that if that was true, then surely Reid wouldn’t mind going to the garage.”
“Poor Rossi.” You could imagine the scene perfectly in your head. Reid probably thought he was being encouraging. You were sure Rossi wasn’t very happy with him.
“Poor Reid. The kid looked like Hotch had taken away his puppy.”
“I think he wanted to see you.” You narrowed your eyes at Derek’s teasing, but you could feel your cheeks heating up. Luckily, Patch saved you.
“In the span of 24 hours, I’ve had attacks in three different places across town. Whoever this is, they’re not slowing down. That’s why I asked for the BAU’s help.” She paused, clenching her jaw slightly before turning to Diego. “And that’s why I’m also going to ask for your help, Diego. If you actually give a shit, and you have any fresh ideas.”
“What about the guy’s kid? From the donut shop?” Suddenly, Diego’s bravado was gone. The cocky smirk was replaced by a seriousness you hadn’t seen since you were seventeen. That’s how it had always gone. The second the mission was on, Diego stopped playing around.
“We have our technical analyst looking into extended family. Once they’re found, we’ll question them and, in case anyone goes after them, we’ll give them some protection,” Prentiss answered.
“I’m surprised she hasn’t already called. Something like finding children should be easy for Garcia. Plus, she’s always looking for an excuse to talk to the Derek Morgan.”
“Ha ha. Very funny, Y/N. I am going to call her though. Make sure she hasn’t found something, and Hotch just didn’t tell us yet.” Derek took out his phone and stepped a few feet away. You could see both Patch and Diego raise a brow at the flirtatious way Morgan spoke, but you ignored it.
Instead, you took a careful look around the room. “They really didn’t care whether or not they trashed this place, did they?”
Prentiss huffed in agreement. “Any security footage?”
“Nothing from in here. Outside cameras caught two shooters fleeing. Get this, they were wearing some creepy kids masks.”
“This town really is going to shit,” Diego sighed.
“Coming from the guy dressed in spandex.” Prentiss’s eyes once again looked critically over Diego’s outfit.
“It’s leather.”
“And don’t act like you didn’t wear an outfit like that in high school. I’ve seen your yearbook pictures, Prentiss.”
“All right. You guys go fill out your forms. I’m going to go catch these animals.” Diego paused as he walked to the doors, turning to look at Patch. “And Eudora, I do give a shit.”
“Let’s hope he does,” Emily mutters as Patch leaves you two. “If your brother does something to screw up this case, the brass are going to be all over you.”
You sighed, nodding slightly. You had figured as much. It would be best for you if this case was solved quickly and quietly.
--------------------------
You chewed your lip thoughtfully as you studied the crime scene pictures stuck to the board. The room that your team had been given at the police station was empty currently. Hotch and JJ were dealing with the press. Rossi and Reid were heading back from the garage where the tow truck driver had been found. Derek and Emily had gone to the medical examiner’s office to see the body of the tow truck driver. Based on the pictures in front of you, that wasn’t going to be a pleasant sight.
It was clear that the man had been tortured. He had severe cuts and bruising. Not to mention the electrocution. Placing the clamps on the man’s nipple to electrocute him was an...interesting choice the unsubs had made.
You glanced outside into the bullpen to see Hotch and JJ talking to Patch and the other detective working the case. Beeman, you thought his name was. He was much more receptive to you than Patch was. It wasn’t that she was hostile, per say. It was more that you could tell that every time she looked at you, you could tell that she was assuming that you were going to behave just like Diego. You had kept yourself busy in the small room by looking over all of the information so that you didn’t have to talk to her.
As you watched, Rossi and Reid walked into the bullpen, making their way over to Hotch. After a few words, Reid looked up sharply in your direction. You looked away immediately when he caught your eye through the glass, feeling like a kid who got caught staring at their crush as your cheeks heated up.
You didn’t look up from your papers when the door opened, but you could tell that it was Spencer who sank into the seat next to you.
“So I was thinking that maybe, if you wanted to...I mean it might be a good idea if we, maybe-” The softness of Spencer’s voice pulled the corners of your mouth into a small smile. You looked up at him, watching how his hands moved as he continued to ramble nervously.
“Spencer, do you want to talk later today? About what happened yesterday?” Spencer looked at you gratefully and nodded.
“What happened yesterday?” The tone of Rossi’s voice made it obvious that he had his own suspicions. He, Hotch, and JJ took their own seats around the table. Hotch, of course, was pretending he hadn’t heard anything. JJ and Rossi, on the other hand, both wore victorious smiles. On many occasions, both of them had encouraged you to ask Spencer out.
“Garcia called when we were on our way back from the ME’s office.” For the second time that day, you thanked the timing of Derek Morgan. He and Prentiss walked into the room and took the last two chairs. “The bullets from the department store definitely match the bullets from the garage.”
“But not the bullets from the donut shop?” Rossi asked.
“No. All of the bullets found at the donut shop match guns found at the scene.” Hotch checked his notes. “Did Garcia run the prints found on the knife?”
“Yep. They don’t match the driver’s prints. And she ran them through all of our databases. The only match is the cold case that local PD told us about.”
Hotch looked at Prentiss for a moment, going over her words. “Tell her to run them again.”
“She already did. Multiple times. She said that she could try to get access to some international databases if we wanted her to check those.”
“That won’t be necessary for now.”
“Hotch, you should also know that Garcia said she can’t find any records of the driver having kids. He’s married. Wife lives in town. No kids though.”
Hotch nodded, but you could tell by the way his eyes shifted that he was stumped by this. “Might not have been his child. Maybe the child of a family friend. Morgan, you and Prentiss go interview the wife after we’re done here. Try to find out who the child is and whether her husband might have had any enemies.”
Your team was quiet for a few seconds. The case didn’t make much sense yet. You were still missing a few pieces. Hopefully, you could start figuring out the puzzle before more people died.
“Say the driver was the target,” Rossi began slowly, thinking off the top of his head. “Whoever’s after him sends a bunch of local goons to the donut shop. He manages to get away, but they find him at his garage. Then they torture him for information.”
“They probably killed him after he gave them the information they needed.” Derek threw his pen down onto the table.
“Or after they realized he didn’t have the information they needed.” Your team looked at you in confusion. “The woman working at the donut shop said she heard the tow truck drive off before the shooting started.”
“She could have been misremembering.” You nodded slightly at Derek’s suggestion, but you didn’t agree.
“Someone should head over there to interview her after this.”
“I’ll go,” you volunteered quickly after Hotch spoke. He hesitated a second too long before nodding. Most people wouldn’t have noticed, but a room full of profilers definitely did. He didn’t want you out in the field. But was it because he didn’t trust you or was there another reason?
“Take Rossi.”
“Actually, Hotch, I was hoping to look over the file for the cold case. JJ and I were wondering if there might be anything in there that’s similar to this case.” Hotch missed the quick look of confusion that JJ shot at Rossi, who cut his eyes between you and Reid in response.
JJ’s brows raised in realization. “Yeah, we were hoping some fresh eyes might shed some light on the case.”
“Fine.” Hotch looked between you and Reid. You tried not to shift your body language in any way that might make him suggest something was going on between the two of you, but you immediately started overthinking it. Did you always sit so much closer to Reid than you did to whoever was on your other side? Was your head usually turned ever so slightly to face him more. “Reid, you go with Y/L/N.” Hotch turned his serious gaze to you. “Why do you think they weren’t after the driver?”
“Well, say the woman at the donut shop is misremembering when the car drove off, it still doesn’t make sense. Looking at the pictures of the driver, I wouldn’t think he would be able to fight off all of those men by himself. Were any of the wounds on the body gunshots?”
Derek shook his head. “No. The ME said there were no gunshot wounds. All of the wounds were made well after the attack at the donut shop.”
“And you’re right,” Emily said slowly. “There’s no way the driver could have overpowered all of those men.”
“So when the driver left there must have been someone else in there. Whoever that is was skilled enough to take out all of those guys. I doubt he did it without injuring himself though. Garcia should check hospitals for any gunshot wounds after the attack.”
“So then why torture the driver?”
“Maybe…” You were distracted from Prentiss’s question by your phone buzzing in your pocket. You dug it out quickly, but declined the call when you saw it was Allison. It was the third time she had called since you got to the station. You had sent her a quick text telling her you were busy, but apparently she didn’t care.
“Everything okay, Y/L/N?” You nodded quickly to Hotch, pocketing your phone once more.
“Fine.” You sighed as you thought over the situation quickly. “Maybe whoever killed the driver didn’t know that he wasn’t the target.”
“What do you mean?” Rossi asked, leaning back and steepling his fingers as he studied you.
“What if whoever killed the driver just assumed that he was the target? What if this is some sort of organized crime? Whoever is in charge hired some local goons to kill the target at the donut shop, but he kills them all and gets away. So they send in two new people, who are maybe the next tier up. All these people know is that the target was at the donut shop, but got away.”
“So they assume it was the tow truck driver, and then torture him for whatever information they’re after.”
You nodded at Morgan. “But then they realize that he’s not the target, so they kill him. I bet whoever they’re after was at the department store, but got away again.”
“There’s only video of two people leaving the store, though. Looks like a man and a woman.” Prentiss frowned at the picture in front of her. “And what’s with the weird masks?”
“Maybe the target knew another way out. The security system at the store wasn’t exactly top notch,” Rossi suggested.
“Do the masks mean anything to you, Y/L/N?” You looked up at Hotch in surprise. “Are they local mascots? Characters from a local business? Something like that?”
“I don’t recognize them, but that doesn’t mean they don’t mean something to the community. They could still be from a pizza place or a school. It’s not like I got to spend a lot of time at either of those places.”
For a second, it was like the wind had been sucked from the room. Everyone sat still, once again aware of how different your upbringing was. As your team had gotten into the groove of trying to work out his case, any of the remaining awkwardness had started to dissipate. Now, it was back in full force.
“We can ask local PD if they recognize the masks,” Rossi suggested after a second of silence.
“You know it’s common for children to be scared of people in masks. While most kids grow out of it with time, many adults are naturally unsettled when faced with strangers in masks. It’s one of the reasons so many horror movies feature villains wearing masks.”
“Good to know, Reid,” Derek muttered.
--------------------------
The bell rang clearly through the empty store as you and Spencer entered. The mess from the attack was gone, but the store was still devoid of customers. The door to the back swung open and an older woman came out.
“Hello,” she greeted cheerfully. “What can I get for you two?”
“We’re actually with the FBI.” The woman’s face fell as you and Spencer both flashed your badges. “I’m Doctor Reid and this is Agent Y/L/N.”
“You two are here to ask about the attack the other night.”
“We are.”
“I’ve already gone over it with both of the detectives. Do I really need to go through all of this again?”
“We wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” you answered gently. “We’re trained to see things differently than local detectives. It would help us greatly if we could ask you some questions.” You could see that the woman was still unsure, so you put on your best smile and hopped on one of the stools. “And since we’re already here, we’ll go ahead and take two monster donuts.”
The woman’s eyes lit up as she looked over you once again. “You must be from around here. You didn’t even have to look at the menu to know that the monster donuts are the best donuts. Let me go grab your donuts and then we can talk.” With another smile, she disappeared into the back again.
“What exactly is a monster donut?” Spencer slowly sat on the stool next to you.
“When they mess up a donut, they decorate it to look like a monster instead of throwing it away.”
“So we’re paying for the misshapen donuts that no one would buy without a gimmick?”
“No.” You smiled sweetly at Spencer, watching in delight as his cheeks reddened. “You’re paying for the misshapen donuts. After all, the guy is supposed to pay for the first date.”
Spencer grinned at your teasing. “So this is a date? Here I thought we were on the clock.”
“We can multitask.” You took Spencer’s hand in yours, squeezing it slightly. The back door swung open again and you two sprang apart.
“Here we go. By the way, my name is Agnes.” She placed a plate in front of each of you. Grinning, you inspected the donuts.
“Oh I got Frankenstein. You know, my brother used to beg for a Frankenstein one whenever we came here. Lucky you, Reid. The vampires were always my favorite.”
“We can trade if you want.” You started shaking your head, but Spencer was already switching your plates. You tried to frown at him, but couldn’t stop the corners of your mouth from turning up.
Agnes’s eyes flicked between the two of you. “Well aren’t you two a lovely couple.” You and Spencer both sat up straighter, leaning away from each other slightly. This was still work. You couldn’t afford to do anything unprofessional right now. Spencer muttered something about not being a couple, but Agnes didn’t seem convinced.
“So can you take us through what happened that night?” Spencer seemed relieved that you interrupted his ramblings. He took a big bite of Frankenstein’s head as Agnes began to talk.
“It was a pretty slow night. Only the one man and his son. The man ordered an eclair. His son got coffee.”
“Decaf?” Spencer asked through another bite of the donut. Anges shook her head. “How old would you say the son was?”
“About 13, I’d guess. He seemed so serious though. Very mature for his age. He was wearing a school uniform, but not one that I recognized. I don’t see many private school kids in here. I remember thinking that they looked like an odd pair.”
“Odd how?”
“Well the boy looked perfectly put together. The man, on the other hand, looked a little dirty. Not that there’s anything wrong with getting a little dirty while you’re working. Heaven knows that I can work up a sweat making donuts all day.”
“All right, so you give the two of them the eclair and coffee. Then what do you do?”
“I went into the back to start getting ready to close. I figured I might as well call it a night once those two left. While I was back there, I heard a car start up outside. I looked out the window and saw the tow truck driving away. Then people started shooting. I hid under the desk until I thought it was safe to come out.”
“How much time would you say passed between when the truck drove away and the shooting started.”
“Oh not long. Less than a minute.”
Your phone buzzed in your pocket. You dug it out, ready to decline another call from Allison, but instead you were greeted with a text from Prentiss. Spencer met your eyes, waiting for you to talk.
“They’ve talked with the widow. The driver didn’t have any kids.”
Just then, Spencer’s phone started ringing. “It’s Hotch. I’ll be right back.” You watched as Spencer quickly exited the donut shop before turning back to Agnes.
“That boy was not the driver’s son. Did you see him leave with the driver?” Agnes shook her head. “Can you describe him for me?”
“Dark hair. Maybe lighter eyes. I didn’t really look very closely to be honest. Very serious demeanor.” You nodded slightly and began to get up from your seat. It was unlikely that you would get anything else useful. Still, it had been nice to have another Griddy’s donut, you thought as you popped your last bit into your mouth. “Oh wait. There was something else. He had a tattoo on his wrist.”
Your blood ran cold. You looked at Agnes, trying to control your facial expression. “A tattoo?”
“Yes. It was an umbrella. I remember thinking it was strange that someone so young would have a tattoo. Is that helpful?”
Without thinking, you pushed yourself into her head. It was easy to find the memory of that night. And sitting there, at the corner of the bar, was Five. Blinking quickly, you exited her head as quickly as you had entered it.
Well it definitely made your life more difficult. “Yes. Thank you, ma’am. And thank you for the donuts. They were delicious.” You dropped some cash onto the counter and walked back outside.
“Did she have anything useful?” Spencer asked as you approached the SUV.
“No,” you replied without missing a beat. “Nothing she hadn’t already told Patch. What did Hotch want?”
“He wants us back at the station to start working on a geographic profile for the potential target. He thinks that if we can find the target, we’ll be able to find the unsubs.”
You nodded slightly before sliding into the driver’s seat. Without any hesitation, you began making your way back to the police station.
Another car pulls into the parking lot as you’re pulling out. “At least she has some more customers coming,” you say, trying to ignore Spencer staring at you from the passenger seat. Finally, you glanced over, eyebrows raised in question.
“Sorry. It’s just a little weird seeing you here. I mean, it makes sense that you would be familiar with the city since you grew up here, but you didn’t need directions to the donut shop even though we ran into construction. It’s like you know the city off the back of your hand.”
“I do. We had to memorize the layout of the city as kids. We had to be able to come up with the quickest routes between any two points.”
“Oh. And here I thought I was weird for learning classical literature and theoretical physics as a kid.”
“We had to do that too.” Spencer didn’t respond. Instead, he looked through the window as you continued to drive. For a second, you almost looked into his head to see what he was thinking. It was almost second nature, like it had been in the donut shop.
You had to stop whatever was going on with you. It had been a mistake to come back to the city. It had been a mistake to agree to work on this case. You were regressing too much. Wanting to look in everyone’s head just because it would make your life easier. Putting your siblings above all else. You had just lied to Spencer for crying out loud. You should have told him about the tattoo. You should tell your team that Five was at the diner. That he’s probably the target.
But you can’t. You won’t. At least not yet. You have to talk to Five first. Because as much as you hate to admit it, saving the world is probably more important than solving this case. Even if that means you might lose your job.
All of this is running through your head as you pull up at the police station. Your phone buzzes again as you enter the bullpen. “You go ahead, Spence. I need to take this.” Spencer hesitates slightly, but you urge him on with a small smile. You accept the call. “What, Allison?”
“Y/N finally! Where are you?”
“Where am I? I’m at work. Now why do you keep calling me?”
“You have to come home. We’re having a family meeting.”
You run a rand through your hair, trying not to snap in the middle of the bullpen. “Allison, I am working. I can’t go back to the house right now. I’ll probably be by later, once we’re done for the night. I don’t even know if the team got me a hotel room, so I might be sleeping at the house.”
“Y/N, you have to come now. It’s about Mom.”
“About Mom?” you repeat. “Look, whatever it is, I’m sure she’s fine. Let her recharge or ask Pogo about it. I’m busy, so please stop calling. We’ll talk later.”
“Please, Y/N. Diego should be on his way to the police station. Just go with him so we can all talk about this.”
“Diego should be-” You turn sharply to look at the room your team is set up in. Sure enough, Diego is in there, gesturing wildly while Patch seemingly tries to get him out. You hand up on Allison, stuff your phone back in your pocket, and stomp over.
“Y/N, there you are,” Diego says when you walk in. The rest of your team takes in your stoic face and clenched fists without a comment. They know you’re pissed and they know better than to mess with you. “Come on. We need to go home.”
Diego tries to take your arm, but you grab his wrist before he can. “No, Diego, you need to go home. And you need to tell Allison to stop calling me. Because I don’t care about what she and Luther have to say.” Diego tried to get his wrist back as you dragged him out of the room, but to no avail.
“It’s about Mom. It’s serious.”
“I think whatever is going on with Mom can wait until later. She’s a robot. Now, leave me alone. I’m working on the case. You know, the one you’re supposed to be giving a shit about.”
Finally, you let go of Diego’s wrist. He looks at you for a minute and you wonder whether he’s going to try to pick you up and carry you back home. Instead, he shakes his head. “Fine. But if we make a decision that you don’t like, you can’t complain.”
“Ok fine. Goodbye, Diego.” You watch as he stalks out of the police station. You groan into your hands before turning back to the room. Cases were so much easier before your family was involved.
Without looking at anyone, you drop into a seat in between Morgan and JJ. It’s quiet for a moment before Hotch speaks. “Is everything okay, Y/L/N?”
“Everything’s fine.” You push yourself up to look at your boss. “Sorry about him. Diego has no boundaries, professional or personal. He’s also just a general pain in the ass.” If you aren’t mistaken, there’s the littlest movement of Hotch’s mouth. It’s probably the most you’ve ever been able to make him smile.
“So I know that we should pretend like we didn’t hear that, but did you say that your mom is a robot?” You turn to JJ, who’s trying not to smile. However, she can’t help herself when you nod, grinning back at her. “Ok, once this case is over I’m going to need to know more about that.”
“Until then, let’s go over what we just learned.” You sat up straighter, giving Hotch all of your attention. There’s an uneasy feeling in your stomach, reminding you that you have important information. You just need to talk to Five first.
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“All right, everyone, let’s stop for the night. We’ll go back to the hotel, then come back fresh tomorrow.” Everyone groaned in relief as they began to gather their things to leave the station. You stood slowly, cracking your neck as you did. Next to you, Reid was doing the same thing. The two of you had been hunched over a map for most of the evening, trying to work out the geographical profile of the unsub’s target. It was easy to make yourself forget that it was Five you were profiling, though your breath caught every time you saw your house or the eyeball factory on the map. You just hoped that Spencer bought it every time you turned it into a yawn.
You hesitated for a moment, unsure whether you should follow them out to the SUVs or take your family’s car, which had been sitting at the station all day, back to the house. Spencer paused at the doorway, looking back at you, which caused Hotch to turn back too.
“Oh, Y/N, we couldn’t get you a room when we checked in. You can come with us to the hotel and try for yourself. Or I guess someone might be willing to share.” Spencer opened his mouth, most likely to volunteer his room. The two of you had shared rooms before when the local hotels didn’t have enough rooms for everyone to have their own, but you weren’t sure if it would be weird now that you two were kind of a thing.
“I’ll just go back to the house. My sister has been calling me all day, and I told her I’d be back tonight.” Right on cue, your phone started buzzing. “Speak of the devil,” you muttered as you answered your phone. “Hey, Allison, I was just-”
“Y/N, you have to get back quick. We were just attacked.”
“You were just attacked?” Your voice rose in alarm, drawing the attention of your team. They quickly returned to the room, watching you with concern. “What do you mean you were attacked? What happened?”
“We had a family meeting earlier and then afterwards some freaks in masks showed up and started shooting up the house.”
“Masks? Like creepy animal masks?” Your team’s eyes widened. They quickly began putting their stuff back down. It looked like it would be a longer night than any of you anticipated.
“Yeah some woman in a pink mask and a man in a blue one. We managed to fight them off.”
“Who’s ‘we’? Is everyone okay?”
“Me, Luther, Diego, and Vanya.”
You made a face before you could stop yourself. “You had a family meeting when half the team wasn’t there? But you included Vanya?”
Allison huffed on the other end of the line. “Yes, we included Vanya. Mom was her mom too. And you and Five wouldn’t come. Klaus was here for the meeting, but he’s gone.”
“He’s gone? Was he there when you were attacked?”
“No he probably left to go get high.”
You hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to let the matter of Klaus go. You’d know more once you got the house, you finally decided. You headed out the door, your team following close behind you. You stuttered for a moment as something Allison had said finally landed. “Did something happen to Mom?”
Your team glanced at you as everyone piled into the SUVs. Allison’s voice sounded small on the other end of the line. “What makes you say that?”
Answering a question with a question. She was deflecting. “Allison, what happened to Mom? You said that she was Vanya’s mom too. Past tense. She is our mom.” Your team was doing a good job acting like they weren’t listening, but you knew they noticed how your voice cracked with panic.
“They killed her. We don’t know what happened. We lost them for a few minutes.”
“They killed-they can’t have killed her. She’s a robot. No they can’t have just turned her off. It can’t just work like that.”
“It can, Y/N. And they did.”
You clenched your jaw, forcing the tears to stay back. “I’ll be there soon.” Without waiting for a reply, you ended the call. Your fingers moved restlessly as the drive continued, until Spencer took your hand in his. He gave you a comforting squeeze. Looking up at him, you managed a small smile before letting out a shaky breath. Whoever these masked freaks were, they were going to be sorry they had messed with your family. You would make sure of it.
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The Illusion (pt 3)
Summary: How do you save the world when all you have to go on is an eye? The reader isn’t sure, but Five seems to have an idea. But helping her brother without jeopardizing her career might be harder than it seems. It doesn’t help that Diego manages to get the reader interested in a local case.
Pairing: Spencer Reid x Umbrella Academy!Reader
Warnings: Umbrella Academy spoilers
Word Count: 6.5k
Unfortunately, there’s very little Criminal Minds in this chapter, but this should be the last Umbrella Academy heavy one. The BAU returns next chapter...
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“So you’re telling me that the only thing we have to go on is an eye? We have to stop the apocalypse, and the only clue we have is an eyeball?”
“That’s what I said,” Five snapped as you tried to keep your eyes on the road. You had insisted that you drive, seeing as Five was thirteen and didn’t have a license. He was still sulking. “I have a plan, though. We’re going to go to the manufacturers of the eye and find out who the eye belongs to.”
“My first problem with that plan is that they’re going to wonder how we got the eye and will no doubt contact the police to make sure we didn’t murder anyone. My second problem is that they’re not just going to give out confidential information like that. Their clients’ information is protected. Giving us the name will potentially open them up to some big time lawsuits.”
“You’re an FBI agent. Just flash them your badge and make them give us the name. It’s not that hard.”
You sighed. “Five, I’m on thin ice with the FBI right now. They’re not exactly pleased that I lied to them about my identity.”
“Are they mad that you lied or that they didn’t catch your lie?”
Your lip quirked a bit before you forced yourself to be serious again. You were still proud that you had managed to fool the FBI for so long by yourself. “Both probably. But I have a trial next week and until then, I need to keep my head down and not piss them off anymore. Even after the trial, if they let me keep my job, I’ll be under intense scrutiny for who knows how long.”
“Is your trial before or after the world ends?”
“After,” you admitted.
“Then you can worry about your job after we save the world,” Five pointed out.
“Listen, I want to help you save the world, but I’m not going to lose my job in the process. And I’m definitely not going to risk it for an eye that might not even be useful.”
“It’s useful,” Five hissed through clenched teeth. You got the impression that he was very close to actually wanting to snap your neck.
“How do you know? What makes you think that an eye is related to the end of the world? Especially since you didn’t even see who it belongs to.”
“I just do, okay?” You waited for an explanation, but Five was too busy scowling out the window to provide one.
“What aren’t you telling me?” you prodded. Silence. “You know I could just look.”
Five sighed angrily, but something in his voice when he spoke made you realize just how serious he was. “You don’t want to see what I saw. Just believe me. Whoever has this eye is going to cause the end of the world.”
“Fine,” you accepted. “Tell me about the future, then.”
“Everything’s destroyed. What else is there to know?”
“I need to know everything I can in order to try to predict how the world is destroyed. There’s a couple possibilities, I guess. Environmental disaster. Nuclear explosion. Aliens.”
“Aliens?” Five scoffed.
You hit his arm in response. “We have super powers for some unknown reason, and you think aliens are far fetched?”
“Fine,” Five bit back. “It just looked like a wasteland. Buildings were destroyed. Some were still on fire. The ground was dust. I managed to survive by eating whatever I could find. Canned food. Cockroaches.” You made a face before you could help yourself. Thank goodness you hadn’t looked in his head to see that. “You know that myth that Twinkies have an endless shelf life? It’s total bullshit.” Five laughed mirthlessly. “We did what we had to do to survive. We adapted.”
“We?” you questioned. You were sure that Five had said all humans were dead. Five’s jaw clenched and he stared pointendly out the window, pretending he didn’t head you. You eyed your brother carefully. You wanted to believe him. Well, not really wanted since that meant believing the world was about to end, but you thought he was telling the truth. Still, being alone could really mess up your mind, especially after something as traumatic as accidentally time travelling into the future.
“You think I’m crazy,” he finally said quietly.
“I already told you that I don’t. Look, I’m driving back to the house with you. I don’t know what else could show you that I’m serious about helping you. I’m just trying to get all of the information. So, was there anyone else with you?”
“Dolores,” Five finally admitted grudgingly.
“And Dolores is?” you prompted.
“My wife.” You turned completely to stare at your brother. Your thirteen year old brother, who was actually much older than you now and was apparently married. “The road,” Five yelled, yanking the wheel to the side, so your car narrowly avoided the highway railing.
“Sorry. We’ll need to unpack that later. Preferably after we save the world. Okay, so there were cockroaches. Any other bugs or animals?”
“No.”
“You must have found some water to drink. Anything off about the water level? Did it seem really high or low?”
“No.”
“Did you see any signs of strange technology? Maybe some new weaponry? Something alien?”
“No,” Five repeated, his voice starting to sound annoyed.
“Okay,” you thought desperately for something that could give you some information. “What about the sky? Did you notice anything like strange planets or maybe something to suggest that the earth shifted?”
“I couldn’t see the sky,” Five answered softly. “There was always smoke and clouds and, I don’t know, shit in the sky. Never saw the sun. Never saw any stars or planets.”
“Well I doubt the earth was knocked out of position. If a change in position had killed all humans, you wouldn’t have survived. Unless whatever moved earth moved it back after everyone was dead.”
“Will you stop with the aliens!”
“I’m just thinking out loud,” you snapped back. “Believe it or not, I don’t have a ready made list of every possible thing that could cause the apocalypse.” You sighed, trying to calm yourself down. You were starting to get a headache, but not like a normal one. It didn’t feel like one that was brought on by dehydration or lack of sleep. It felt like the headaches you used to get when you were younger. Like your mind was about to explode out of your head. Like you just needed to engulf everything around you.
‘It’s because your mind knows that it should be monitoring everyone else’s mind.’ That’s what your father used to tell you. That your consciousness was too big for your own head, so you needed to be in everyone else’s at all times.
You shook your head, trying to clear the memories of those talks with your father. They wouldn’t do you any good now.
“Shit in the sky,” you mused. “Probably not a nuclear bomb. You don’t seem like you’ve been exposed to anything strong enough to wipe out the entire world. Worldwide volcanic winter? Maybe a super volcano erupted. By the time you showed up, the world was habitable again.”
“But how would a person in the city make a supervolcano erupt?” Five’s fingers clenched around the eye.
“I don’t know. A super volcano machine?” Five glared at you, but didn’t deign to give you a response. “Fine. Um, some sort of meteor hit earth and wiped everything out. Like the dinosaurs, but more thorough.”
“Using a meteor machine?” Five asked sarcastically.
“Maybe! Luther’s been up in space doing who knows what. There would be someone else up there who’s been prepping a meteor to hit the earth. Or someone could have some sort of super missile to shoot at a meteor as it passes. Make it explode and enough of it might hit earth to wipe out everyone. We should see if there’s supposed to be any big meteors passing earth in eight days. I’ll ask Garci-” You stopped suddenly. You couldn’t ask Garcia about this. This wasn’t a case. None of your teammates could find out about this. If the world was going to end in eight days, you weren’t going to ruin the rest of their time by telling them they have an official expiration date. “Um, we can look it up later.”
You could feel Five studying you carefully. “You really care about your work, don’t you? And your coworkers.”
“They’re like my family,” you admitted.
Five chuckled darkly. “Probably less dysfunctional than our actual family.”
“Definitely,” you agreed. You hesitated for a moment, debating asking Five the question that had been on the tip of your tongue. “So are you going to tell the rest of our siblings what’s going on?”
“I will when they’ll be useful,” Five clipped.
“I don’t think that’s very fair. They could help.”
“Whatever you say,” Five mumbled. “I’m going to get some sleep.” Before you could say anything else, Five closed his eyes. You knew from experience that Five wouldn’t respond to anything else you said, whether he was actually sleeping or just faking, so you resigned yourself to silence for the rest of the drive.
--------------------------
“I still think this is a bad idea. Let’s go back to the house and come up with a better plan.” Five continued to squeeze the fake eye in his hand as the elevator climbed up.
“Unless you think you can hack into their system and see who the eye belongs to, this is the only plan.”
You shrugged, thinking about what you already knew about this company. “I’m actually not a bad hacker. If I can use Dad’s good computer it might even be possible for me to find the name.”
“We don’t have time for ‘might.’ We have to find out whose eye this is as quickly as possible. Then we can-”
“Stop the world from ending. Yeah I get it. You can’t get mad at me when they won’t give you the name just because you ask though.”
Five turned to you with a strained smile on his face. He was probably trying to look like a normal kid, but he looked a little bit like he was about to murder you. “You forget that I’m now a child. No one’s going to question a child who’s just trying to do a good deed.”
You rolled your eyes, but didn’t respond. The elevator doors opened and you followed Five out. The floor was very modern. Windows and glass walls everywhere. Five turned around slowly, taking it all in.
“Uh, can I help you?” You took the man in silently. Lab Coat. Badge. He could help if he wanted to, but you doubted he would. Styled hair. Straight tie. Pens neatly arranged in his coat pocket. He was too much of a rule follower to break protocol and give out personal information. Though the friendly inflection of his voice suggested that he would struggle with the decision internally.
“I need to know who this belongs to.” Five held up the eye.
“Where did you get that?” The man’s brows drew together in a mixture of confusion and concern.
“What do you care?” You groaned internally. For a guy who was basing his plan off of people not being able to turn down children, he was not trying very hard to act like a likable child. You could see Five tense up slightly before he forced himself to continue. “At a playground actually,” he said, not sounding at all like someone who would be at a playground. “Must have just popped out. I want to return it to its rightful owner.”
“Oh what a thoughtful young man,” the receptionist said, smiling sweetly at Five. You debated interjecting to help him, but decided instead to watch how this played out. Observe how the employees act before attempting to manipulate them.
“Yeah just look up the name for me, would ya?” You couldn’t help but roll your eyes. Five couldn’t be more unlikable even if he tried. Maybe so long without human contact had messed with him more than you realized.
The man started shaking his head. “Patient records are confidential. That means I can’t-”
“Yeah I know what it means,” Five interrupted.
“But I’ll tell you what I can do. I can take the eye off your hands and return it to its rightful owner. I’m sure they will be very grateful. So if I can just-” The man reached for the eye that was still clutched tightly in your brother’s hand.
“Yeah you’re not touching the eye.”
The man looked at you in disbelief. “Is this your son?”
You looked Five over. “Um yeah. That is my son. He really just wants to return the eye to the owner, and I’d really like to not have it around. If you could just give us a name or address or something. I know it’s supposed to be confidential, but-”
“But she’s a federal agent-”
“No I’m not,” you interrupted quickly. “I will, however, make a very generous donation if you could just give me the name.”
The man started shaking his head again. Five suddenly tried to lunge at him, but you managed to grab his arms before he could.
“Listen here, asshole,” Five yelled as you started to drag him towards the elevator.
“Thanks so much for your time,” you called. You didn’t release Five until the elevator doors had shut completely.
“Why didn’t you make him tell us?”
“I told you I wasn’t going to do that. You know, you’re very bad at acting like a child.”
“That’s because I haven’t been a child in years. I’m in my fifties.” Five continued to seethe beside you.
“Then don’t come up with a plan that relies on people giving you what you want because you’re a child.” Thankfully, your phone started ringing, saving you from Five’s response. You frowned at the unfamiliar number, but answered anyway, if only to delay Five’s anger. Your frown deepened as you listened to the voice coming through your speaker.
“Who was that?” Five asked. He was glaring at the eye in his hand.
“That was someone at the police station asking me to go pick up Diego. You’re on your own for now. Let me know when your next attempt is, unless it’s going to be illegal. I don’t want to bail out two brothers on the same day.” With that, the elevator doors opened and you left your brother glaring after you.
--------------------------
Thankfully, it was easier to find Diego than it was to find the owner of the eye. He was being led through the bullpen by a uniform officer.
“Excuse me, officer.” You called, hurrying over to the man. “I got a call telling me to pick up this one. If you could just uncuff him, I can sign or pay whatever and we’ll be out of your way.”
“Detective Patch asked to see him before we let him go,” the man replied. You shrugged and gestured for him to lead the way.
“I can’t believe they made you come down here. Normally they just let me go. Rodriguez, what gives?” Rodriguez shrugged. “Oh well. At least you were still in town.”
“Only because of Five. He showed up at my office this morning and made me come back.”
Diego turned to you, a look of shock on his face. “So Five got to see Quantico before me? C’mon, Y/N! That’s so not fair.”
“Not my problem.” It was easy to determine which of the people in the bullpen was Detective Patch. You had heard Diego talk about her before. He was sitting at a desk while another detective stood next to her, saying something you couldn’t quite hear. Diego noticed your focus and seemed to realize that he should be quiet.
“-get this, 1938.” The man bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly, but Patch rolled her eyes.
“Tell them to run it again.” She handed the evidence bag back to the man, who seemed to deflate a little bit, but took it without complaint. Patch noticed Diego then. Her eyes flicked to you curiously. “We’ll pick this up later. Uncuff him.” Rodriguez uncuffed Diego, who thanked him and then took a seat like this was a normal thing for him. It probably was, you realized. She studied you carefully when you stayed standing behind Diego. “Sorry, you are?”
“Y/N.” You held out your hand, which she took after a second of hesitation. Her handshake was unsurprisingly firm, but you noted the small look of surprise when she registered your strength. “I got a call asking me to pick him up.”
“Not that I’ve ever needed a babysitter to pick me up before,” Diego said. He grabbed a paper on Patch’s desk, which she promptly snatched back. “So, did you talk to the tow truck guy?”
“Shut up and listen carefully.” To your surprise, Diego actually did. “The next time you interfere with one of my investigations, I’ll charge you with obstruction of justice. You will do jail time. Then, getting out won’t be as easy as calling your girlfriend to come pick you up.” The only way you realized you were the ‘girlfriend’ in question was because Patch glared at you. You considered correcting her, but shut your mouth.
“Girlfriend? No gross. That’s disgusting. She’s my sister. Right, Y/N?” Diego turned to look at you. “Y/N, why aren’t you saying anything.”
“To be honest, I wasn’t sure if this was some angle you were playing. I’ve already had to pretend to be Five’s mom today, so I was just going to go with it.”
“What?” Diego and Patch asked at the same time. You waved your hand to indicate that it didn’t matter. Patch continued to study you for a second before turning to Diego.
“Look, Eudora-”
“Don’t call me that.”
“You love playing by the rules, but you live for putting the scumbags away. So, for one night, put down the badge and come out on the streets with me. Without all this bullshit.”
“You’re right. That does sound super fun. But I think you missed some things when you got yourself thrown out of the police academy, so let me explain. All this bullshit,” Patch said slowly, like she was talking to a toddler, “is what gets convictions in a court of law.” Diego leaned back and sighed, but you had to nod along with her. “What you do is fantasy. I would love to put on a mask and play superheroes and feel important, but guess what? Recess is over. It’s grownup time. You’re still trying to prove that what you did when you were kids, running around in those stupid uniform, that it wasn’t for nothing.” You couldn’t see Diego’s face, but you could see his jaw clench at her words. He turned to face you.
“Do you agree, Y/N?”
Patch scoffed slightly before looking at you. “No offense, but I don’t really care what she thinks. If she’s your sister, the one that isn’t the actress or the writer, then she’s a mask wearing vigilante too, I assume.”
You smiled tightly at her. Truth be told, her words had stung you a little bit too. Wasn’t that exactly what you had been trying to prove by joining the FBI? That everything you did as a kid, that all of that training, wasn’t for nothing. But you didn’t let that show on your face. Instead, you pulled your badge out of your pocket. “FBI agent, actually. I agree with you that all the bullshit is necessary for a conviction. Unfortunately, Diego normally has good instincts, so, if I were you, I would talk to the tow truck driver.”
“You’re a real FBI agent?” Patch asked, not bothering to hide the disbelief in her voice. You nodded. “What department?”
“Behavioral Analysis Unit,” you responded impatiently. You had a bad feeling that if you left Five alone for too long he would definitely do something illegal.
“Can I see your badge again?” You rolled your eyes, but handed it over to her. “Sorry, it’s just that your idiot brother shows up with fake badges all the time, so I have to be sure.”
“Do you want to call my supervisor? I can give you his card. His name is Aaron Hotchner,” you offered sarcastically. Patch seemed to come to her senses then and handed you back your badge. As she did, the detective she was talking to earlier walked past, catching sight of your badge.
“Woah! FBI? Maybe you can make sense of our rogue fingerprint then.”
“No don’t-” Patch started, but the man continued.
“Diego can tell you about the crime scene, but all the ballistics matched guns found at the scene, so we should assume that all the idiots shot each other, right? Simple robbery gone wrong.”
“But it’s not,” Diego interjected. Patch threw her hands up in frustration that no one seemed to be listening to her.
“Some of the guys were stabbed, though. And the prints on the knife don’t match any of the guys at the scene. They do match a print from a cold case from 1938. Weird right?”
Your brows knitted in confusion. “And the tow truck driver is a witness?”
“He left before any shots were fired. Your brother seems to think that we need to interview him, though.”
“And you don’t?” you challenged. Patch met her eyes with a small glare. She shook her head. “Any other witnesses?”
“An employee. She was in the back when it happened. Said that driver and his son were the only people in the restaurant before she went back. She heard the car drive away, then gunshots started,” Patch said, resignation clear in her voice. You were glad that she had given up the fight. This case actually piqued your interest.
“She say anything about the driver and kid?”
“Driver had an eclair, and the kid had coffee,” Patch answered.
“Where was this?” you asked, ignoring the uneasy feeling in your stomach.
“The donut shop we used to go to when we were little,” Diego said. “You remember it?” You nodded, trying not to give away how fast your mind was racing. It couldn’t be Five, you told yourself. That would be impossible. Diego slammed his hand on the desk excitedly. “You should get your team on this case, Y/N.”
“That’s not really how it works. I can’t just decide that we should work a case. We have to be invited in, then we have to decide to take it. And besides right now I shouldn’t-” you cut yourself off.
“You shouldn’t what?” Diego pushed. At your silence, realization dawned on his face. “Oh they’re pissed at you. They know that you’ve been lying to them, and they’re pissed. Well, you still have the badge, so they haven’t fired you. Are you on probation of something? Is that why you’re back here?”
“I have a trial next week,” you snapped to shut your brother up. You took a deep breath, then turned to Patch, who was watching you with a raised brow. You held out a card to her. “You might not trust Diego’s opinion, but I hope you trust mine. That’s the number for my team. I think this case isn’t as open and shut as it seems. If you’d like the help of the BAU, feel free to call.”
“Can’t say I’m surprised that both Hargreaves as rule breakers,” she said slowly, ignoring the card in your hand. Finally, she took it, then turned to Diego. “Go. Before I change my mind.”
You followed Diego out of the police station. To your surprise, he somehow managed to keep his mouth shut until you had exited the building.
“This is great!” He spun around to face you, causing you to step back a bit in surprise. “With your team on the case, you’ll be able to tell me everything happening and I can still work the case. Could you bring me on as a consultant or something?”
“Diego, stop.” The tone of your voice made your brother snap his mouth shut. “I have a trial next week. Until then, I’m on desk duty. If I go back to work, then all I’ll be doing is paperwork. And I don’t even know if my team could take a new case. They might still be working on Dad’s death.”
“Dad’s death? But there’s nothing to work on.” Some passersby eyed Diego warily as he idly spun a knife around his fingers.
“They’re supposed to rule out all possibilities before any conspiracy theories start to gain traction. The Bureau assigned them the case, so they don’t have a say.”
“And you don’t know whether they’ve finished?”
You shook your head. “If I so much as glance at a file for the case, then I’ll be gone from the Bureau.”
“If you’re in so much trouble, why are you here and not at your desk being a good little FBI agent?”
“My boss told me I could take time off before the trial. There are a lot of people curious about seeing an Umbrella Academy kid, so our floor was getting a bit crowded. And then Five showed up and asked me to come back.”
“Woah, what? Why did Five ask you to come back?” Diego stopped walking and turned to look at you seriously.
You hesitated before answering. Five had said he didn’t want to tell anyone about the apocalypse yet. Even if you didn’t agree with him, shouldn’t you respect his wishes? And even if you were going to tell someone, Diego probably wouldn’t be your first choice. There was no telling when he would do. Probably land himself in jail again.
“You can ask him about it,” you said finally. “He just wants my help getting some information.”
“Ah. Is he trying to reintegrate into society? Geez, I can’t imagine how messed up his head is. Have you profiled him yet? Or just taken a peek inside his brain?”
“No, Diego. I don’t profile family, and I don’t use my powers.”
“You did yesterday,” Diego muttered sarcastically.
“On that note, I’m going to leave you before I’m tempted to use them again. I assume you can find your car. Wherever it is.” Before Diego could respond, you were in your car and driving away. You could see Diego yelling in your rearview mirror, but you didn’t stop to hear what he said.
You tried to focus on finding Five and figuring out what your next plan for stopping the apocalypse would be, but you couldn’t keep your mind from wandering back to Patch’s case. It didn’t really make sense that all of those men would fatally shoot each other in the short amount of time between the tow truck driving away and the employee coming out from the back.
And then there was the fingerprint. The donut shop you went to when you were children. It’s a place Five would go to get coffee. He was familiar with the area. It would be a place of comfort to him. But he couldn’t have been involved in a case from the 1930s. He had to have time travelled back to the present as soon as he figured out how to jump backwards. Still, you couldn’t get rid of the unease in the back of your mind. If your team did take the case, what would they find?
--------------------------
“Back again, ma’am?” You grimaced apologetically at the receptionist, who was eyeing you warily.
“I’m sorry, but I’m looking for my son. He won’t let go of this whole eye thing, so I guessed he might be here.”
The receptionist nodded and gestured to one of the glass walled offices. “He and your husband are meeting with the boss in there.”
You turned, a slight grimace on your face, to see who Five had decided was your husband. Klaus. In one of your father’s suits. You were tempted to leave them and find out how they failed when they got back to the house, but instead you took a deep breath and headed towards the office. As you were reaching for the door handle, Klaus punched Five, then leaned calmly over the desk. To be fair, there were a couple times over the past 24 hours when you had wanted to punch Five. Still, you rushed into the room, ready to stop whatever your idiot brothers were doing.
“I want it. Name. Now, please,” Klaus said calmly. The man looked between him, Five, now sporting a bleeding lip, and you. You shut the door quietly.
“Klaus, what are you doing?”
“Oh, how nice of you to join us, Y/N. I’m just trying to get a name for our darling son.”
“You're crazy,” the doctor said, his voice wavering ever so slightly. He was unsure of how to proceed. Unsure of just how far Klaus would go. Knowing Klaus, the answer was a lot farther.
Klaus laughed. “Oh, you got no idea.” He looked down at the snowglobe on the desk. The doctor followed his gaze, panic written plainly on his face.
“Klaus, don’t-” you began, but before you could finish Klaus had picked up the snowglobe and smashed it on his head. To the businesses credit, they must have really good, soundproof walls. No one outside of the room seemed to have any idea what was going on inside. You threw your hands up. “I don’t know why I bother.”
“God that hurt,” Klaus groaned.
The doctor grabbed his phone and began furiously dialling. “I’m calling securi-”
Klaus grabbed the phone from his hand. “There’s been an assault. We need security now.” Ever the dramatic sibling, Klaus sounded incredibly pathetic as he whimpered over the phone. “Now here’s what’s going to happen, Grant.”
“It’s Lance.”
“In about 60 seconds, two security guards are going to burst through that door, and they’re going to wonder ‘what the hell happened’ and we’re going to tell them that you beat the shit out of us. And they’re going to believe us. Because we’re bleeding, and we have an FBI agent who will back up our story.” Klaus turned to look at you, blood dripping from his head and silver stars still stuck to his face. “Right, honey?”
“Stop telling people I’m an FBI agent.” You sighed, hating what you were about to do. “Right now I’m just a mother and a wife, who just had to watch her family be harmed by someone who’s supposed to be helping people. And all because my son wants to return an eye that he found.”
Lance looked between the three of you in horror, before getting up and going over to a filing cabinet. He riffled through it for a few seconds before pulling out a file. The brows pulled together in confusion. “Huh. That’s weird.”
“What?” Five snapped.
“The eye. It hasn’t been purchased by a client yet.” You stood over his shoulder, looking at the file. “The eye with that serial number...this can’t be right. It hasn’t even been manufactured yet. Where did you get that eye?”
Your blood ran cold as your eyes scanned the file. He was right. So your one lead wasn’t even useful. Not yet at least. Without responding to Lance, Five began walking towards the elevator, leaving you and Klaus to follow.
“I’m really sorry about all of this,” you told Lance. “It’s a long story.”
“If I ever see you three here again, I’ll have security escort you out immediately.”
“That’s fair.”
“Well, this isn’t good,” Five stated as the three of you left the building.
“Yeah but I was pretty good right? ‘What about my consent, bitch?’”
“Klaus, it doesn’t matter,” Five snapped.
Klaus spun in a circle, his arms out wide, before facing you and Five. “Why? What’s the big deal about this eye?”
“There’s someone out there who’s going to lose an eye in the next seven days. They’re going to bring about the end of life on this earth as we know it.” Without waiting for Klaus’s reply, Five began walking away. His hands were balled into fists and his shoulders were so tight that he looked like he had a hunchback.
“Right. Can I get my 20 bucks now?” Klaus spun on his heel and began following Five, who turned around furiously to face Klaus.
“The apocalypse is coming and all you can think about is getting high?” Five seethed.
“Well I’m also quite hungry. Tummy’s a-rumbling.”
“You’re useless.” Five sat heavily on the steps of the building. “You’re all useless.”
“Excuse me. I came back here because you asked me to.”
“Yeah, but you won’t do anything to actually help. You could have asked your technical analyst to hack into their records, but you didn’t. You’re all useless.”
“Well, if that’s how you feel, maybe I’ll just go back to DC. Spend my last days on with people who actually care about me.” You turned back towards your car, every intention of getting in it and leaving Five in the dust.
“You just want to get back to your new boyfriend,” he called after you, making you stop in your tracks. Spencer. You had to save the world for Spencer. Didn’t the two of you deserve a chance to be together? And didn’t the rest of your team deserve a chance to live the rest of their lives. Shouldn’t Hotch and JJ be able to watch their children grow up? You took a deep breath before turning back around to face your brothers.
“I know why you must be so uptight.” Klaus sat next to Five, throwing an arm around him. Five looked at Klaus with disgust. “You need to get laid. I mean, all those years by yourself? It’s gotta screw with your head.”
“Well...I wasn’t alone.” Klaus raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Her name was Dolores. We were together for 30 years.” You were beginning to worry that Five might have been living some sort of Castaway situation, and Dolores was actually a rock or something that Five had convinced himself was a real person.
“Not to break up this wonderful bonding, but you guys can’t do something like that again.” You looked between your brothers as you spoke. Five rolled his eyes. “I’m serious. Or if you do, I can’t be a part of it. I can’t even know about it. If the Bureau gets wind that I’m doing something illegal, I could lose my job. Five, I’ve already told you that I’m on thin ice. I’m not going to risk it. Not even for-” Before you could finish, Five popped away. You saw him lean out the window of a taxi driving past. “-the end of the world.”
“Hey!” Klaus hopped up quickly. “Hey, hey, hey, hey, what about my money?” Five continued to wave as he drove past.
“Come on, Klaus.” You put a hand on his shoulder. “We can pick up some food on our way back to the house. I’m not buying you drugs, though.” Klaus shut his mouth quickly and began to pout. “That’s going to work. And If you don’t stop pouting, I won’t buy you any ice cream.”
--------------------------
You sat by yourself at the kitchen table, staring at the untouched dinner in front of you. Pogo and Allison were the only other people home. Last you knew, Allison was somewhere upstairs sulking. Apparently, she and Vanya had a fight earlier. Allison was so upset about it that you could feel the emotions wafting off of her as soon as you entered the house.
The texts on your phone were shining up at you, but you couldn’t bring yourself to answer them. A couple from different members of your team telling you that they hoped you were alright since you left in a hurry that morning. But it was Spencer who had been making your phone buzz all day. He was worried, which was understandable. You had left quickly and your confession about your true feelings could be seen as alarming, especially considering what a stressful situation you had found yourself in.
You picked up your phone to respond to him when a call lit up your screen.
“Hey, Hotch. I was just about to respond to everybody. I just needed to come home. It’s been a crazy day.”
“Y/N, we’ve been called into a case that you are apparently already familiar with.”
“Hotch, I wasn’t trying to work that case. I had to pick my brother up from the police station and Detective Patch-”
“Detective Patch has already told me about all of that. What I need to know is if you really think there’s more to this case than a bunch of men shooting each other.” Even over the phone, Hotch sounded tense. You could hear rustling over the line and the faint sound of an engine. Was he on the jet?
“I do, sir.”
“Detective Patch does now too. There’s been a new development. We’re taking off in ten minutes and we’ll meet you at the police station. I need you to get down there immediately and begin setting up.”
“Wait, Hotch, I thought that I was on desk duty until my trail. I shouldn’t be anywhere near this case. And have you guys closed the case for my father’s death?” Hotch didn’t respond. You sighed when realization hit you. “Unless you think this could be related.”
“I’m afraid I can’t discuss your father’s case with you. The Board of Directors said specifically that you had to be on this case. That’s all I can say. I’ll see you at the station.”
You put your phone down slowly. Various reasons as to why the Board of Directors would want you working on the case ran through your head. Considering your impending trail, none of the reasons could be good.
You were shaken from your thoughts by Allison and Luther entering the kitchen.
“Y/N, you have to see this,” Allison said breathlessly.
“I don’t have time.” You stood quickly, leaving your dinner uneaten as you rushed out the door. “My team has a case. I need to get to the police station. I don’t know when I’ll be back.” You heard Allison and Luther calling after you, but you ignored them. Whatever they wanted to show you couldn’t be more important than this case. You had a bad feeling that this case might determine your future at the Bureau. More specifically, whether or not you’d have a future at the Bureau.
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o btw if you voted for trump unfollow me right the fuck now and eat shit
The Halloween Party
Summary: Reader has lived across the hall from Penelope Garcia for a couple years and considers her to be one of her best friends. That’s the only reason she agreed to go to a Halloween match making party.
Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader
Warnings: none
Word Count: 2.2k
I wrote this very quickly so it’s not the best, but I couldn’t let Halloween go by without writing something for Reid.
——————
“I still can’t believe I let you talk me into this stupid match making thing,” you grumbled at the blonde currently on your couch.
Penelope Garcia smiled at you over her wine glass. “Well I wanted to go but only if my favorite neighbor did it too.”
“I’m the only neighbor you talk to,” you pointed out. Penelope stuck her tongue out at you and waved her empty glass in the air. You rolled your eyes, but refilled her glass anyway.
You and Penelope had lived in the same building for a few years. When you had seen the brightly dressed woman lugging boxes down the hall, you had offered to help her move everything in. She had intrigued you. You had passed each other in the hall a couple of times after that, but had never really talked until one evening when you heard a knock on your door.
It had puzzled you because you were still pretty new to the area so you didn’t have any friends who would be dropping by unexpectedly. Opening the door, you had found Penelope standing in the hall crying.
“I had a really bad day at work. I just really need someone to talk to,” she had said. You ushered her in and spent the night learning about Penelope’s job as a technical analyst for the BAU. Now whenever Penelope’s team got through with a tough case, she would come collapse on your couch while the two of you drank wine and decompressed.
“You’re also the one who told me to get out there and forget about Kevin,” Penelope countered.
“Yeah well I didn’t think you’d drag me along.”
“It’s not just you! I convinced some of my friends at the BAU to sign up too. Besides, I know you’re excited for the party. You already bought two dresses.” She pointed at the dresses still laying out on your kitchen table. You were trying to decide whether a black dress or white dress would be better for your costume.
“I’m always excited for a Halloween costume party. I just never thought I’d be one of those sad people who signs up for a matchmaking party.”
“Y/N, you are one of the smartest people I know. And I work for the FBI. I know a lot of smart people. The only reason you’re still single is because whenever you get time off from teaching you spend it trying to solve impossible math equations. And I thought you said your match sounded nice.”
You sighed. “Trying to solve an impossible math equation is arguably the most important part of my job. I think the university cares more about that than the courses I teach sometimes. I guess he does seem nice. He’s either very smart or he’s very good at using google to sound smart. Either way, when you look at the data, the likelihood of finding a long term partner through a survey is-“
Penelope groaned. “No! I get enough info dumping at work. Let’s just talk about the party. It’s next weekend and you’re buying clothes for it so I assume you and your partner decided on your costumes. What is it?”
When Penelope had invited you to a Halloween costume party, you had been quick to accept. She then told you that it was a matchmaking party where you had to fill out a survey and were then matched with another attendee. Pairs would have to decide on costumes and then find each other at the party. Until then, pairs wouldn’t know who the other person was. Definitely not your usual definition of fun.
“I’m not telling you,” you teased. Penelope gasped on faux anger before the two of you burst into laughter and decided on a movie to watch.
——————
You stared at your computer screen intently, willing the message to change.
I’ve been out of state for a work trip for the past few days. I didn’t mention it earlier because I was hoping that we would get back in plenty of time. It took a couple more days than we were anticipating though. We’re about to take off, so I’ll make it back in time for the party but I won’t have time to put out on my whole costume. I can just wear the cape or something if you don’t have any better suggestions. I’m looking forward to meeting you tonight.
You chewed your lip thoughtfully before an idea popped into your head. And you began typing back a response.
That’s a shame. I was looking forward to seeing your Masque of the Red Death costume. I have a new idea though. What character refused to wear a costume to a costume ball?
The response came back almost immediately.
And I was looking forward to seeing your Leonore costume. I’m sure that there are a number of characters who fit that description. Would you like a list?
You smiled and rolled your eyes.
It’s another gothic story. He’s throwing the fancy dress party, but he refuses to dress up. His new wife’s costume causes a bit of a stir. Enough clues?
The reply caused you to get up quickly to begin sorting out your new costume.
I’ll see you tonight, Mrs. de Winters.
A few hours later found you ready to leave. You were thankful that you still had the white dress you had previously purchased with the idea of using it for Leonore. You were even more thankful that you still had a wig from a few Halloween’s ago that worked for your costume. So now, with a white dress and curly dark hair, you were ready to leave.
“Ok I give up,” Penelope said when she opened her door. “What are you supposed to be?”
“I’m the narrator from Rebecca,” you told her. “It’s kind of a last minute costume. I’m glad your case wrapped up today. I would be bummed if I had to go without you.”
“Well it’s a good thing it didn’t come to that.” Penelope looped her arm through yours and pulled you down the hallway, the two of you laughing as you went.
——————
Thankfully the room wasn’t too loud when you and Penelope arrived. Jack-o-lanterns and bowls of candy sat on tables around the edge of the room, and bats and ghosts hung from the ceiling. You and Penelope made a circuit around the room, trying to find your matches.
“Maybe ours guys are running late,” Penelope suggested. The two of you had moved to a snack table while you surveyed the sea of costumes around you.
“Or they’re ditching us.” Penelope gave you a playful swat. You were saved from another attack by Penelope’s phone dinging.
“Oh! Some of my friends are here. Come meet them.” Before you could protest, Penelope was dragging you across the room. Two people stood against the wall talking, but broke into smiles and waved when they saw Penelope approaching.
“Y/N, this is Derek and Emily. Guys, this is my neighbor Y/N.”
You smiled and shook hands with the two FBI agents.
“So you’re the famous Y/N,” Derek grinned. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“Famous? If anyone is famous it’s Derek “chocolate thunder” Morgan. The way Penelope talks about you, I was imagining a superhero. She wasn’t wrong.”
“I like her,” Derek laughed.
Emily groaned. “He does not need a bigger ego.”
“Where’s Reid?” Penelope asked. “Don’t tell me he bailed.”
“He said he needed to stop by his apartment first. We came straight from the plane. And don’t worry, Hotch and JJ both assured us they would take pictures of the kids in their costumes.” Penelope squealed and clapped her hands excitedly.
You chatted with Penelope and her friends for a few more minutes before Penelope spotted a man wearing a matching costume to hers. She waved bye to your little group and rushed off to meet him, leaving you with the two FBI agents.
“Oh there’s Pretty Boy,” Derek cried.
“I was kind of expecting you to show up in an intricate costume. You love Halloween, Spencer,” Emily said.
You turned to find a handsome man approaching your group. He was wearing a nice suit and had a leather satchel slung over his shoulder.
“No time, unfortunately.” The man shrugged. “I just had to pick up some books from my apartment. Hi. I’m Dr. Spencer Reid. You must be Garcia’s friend.” He turned to you, but didn’t extend a hand. You realized that this must be the young genius Penelope mentioned from time to time.
“Y/N,” you replied. Spencer’s eyes took in your costume carefully. You tried not to shift uncomfortably.
“Are you planning on doing some reading tonight?” Derek asked.
“No. My date and I were discussing a volume of poetry that I have, so I wanted to bring it to show her.”
“What a ladies man,” Emily teased. “How’s she going to know it’s you though? You’re not wearing a costume.”
“Actually, I am.” Spencer smiled slightly at the confused looks on his friends’ faces. What he just said clicked for you suddenly.
“Maxim?” You asked before you could stop yourself.
Spencer blinked at you in surprise before smiling widely. “Mrs. de Winters?”
Emily and Derek looked between of you in slight confusion, but you and Spencer smiled at each other in delight. “We’ll leave you two to it,” Derek teased as he and Emily walked away.
“I’m glad that you’re a friend of Penelope’s and not a complete stranger,” you admitted. “I was a little worried I’d get stuck with some weirdo. Not that you sounded weird when we talked!”
“Well our first conversation was about the statistics of meeting a murderer when online dating. That’s a little weird.” The two of you laughed slightly.
“I’m a math professor, so I’m interested in anything statistics,” you admitted. “I’m kind of a nerd.”
“Same,” Spencer laughed. “You know these last minute costumes were a good idea.”
“I still want to see your Masque of the Red Death costume sometime.”
“Deal, but only if you tell me what you teach.”
You waved your hand. “Oh nothing exciting. Just some upper level math that nobody wants to take. The fun part of my job is trying to solve the Riemann hypothesis.”
“You’re trying to solve one of the Millennium Prize problems?” Spencer asked in surprise.
“I’m surprised you know about it.” Most people you talked to had no idea what the Millennium Prize problems were. You were sure they wondered why a university would tenure you just so you could keep trying to solve a math problem.
“I’ve looked over them before,” Spencer admitted shyly, like he was waiting for you to make fun of him.
“No luck?”
“Way beyond my level.” The two of you laughed slightly. A slower song began to play and couples danced slowly across the dance floor.
“Want to dance?” you suggested. Spencer hesitated and you worried for a second that you had overstepped, but then he smiled and held out his hand.
Neither one of you were very good dancers, but what you lacked in talent you made up for in smiles. You continued to discuss everything from mathematical theory to what working at the FBI was like to classic literature.
“Do you think this is how the Manderley fancy dress party would have gone if Mrs. Danvers hadn’t sabotaged the narrator?” you asked. “They could have been as happy as us dancing.”
Spencer thought for a moment. “I don’t think so. I don’t think they could have been truly happy together with all of the secrets still between them.”
“True,” you agreed. “So you think we’re happy?”
When Spencer smiled at you, your heart fluttered. “I’m pretty happy. This is going a lot better than I expected. Not that I didn’t think you sounded great when we talked online! But Derek said something about you sounding too good to be true, so I started to worry that you wouldn’t be as amazing in person, but I shouldn’t have. You’re even better in person.”
You smiled gently back at Spencer. “You’re better in person too.”
Spencer studied your face intently for a few seconds, a look of uncertainty on his face. “Can I kiss you?” he asked quickly, like he was afraid he would lose his nerve if he waited.
Your smile grew. “I’d like that,” you responded.
Spencer put one hand gently on your cheek, the other still resting on your waist, and brought his lips down to meet yours. When the two of you broke away, still smiling widely, you were totally oblivious to the looks of shock and delight on the FBI agents’ faces.
“I think we might have to do this again sometime, Mrs. de Winters.”
“I think so, Maxim.”
Without speaking, the two of you leaned in again, and you were able to capture Spencer’s lips once more. You didn’t think you’d get tired of this any time soon. If only you had taken Penelope up on her offer to set the two of you up last year.
